


Hospice Care

by incorrectpassword



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gay Keith, M/M, No Eating Disorders, Poor Keith, Single Father Keith, bi lance, bobby is a god sent child, broganes, gay pidge, hunk is the best uncle, ill add tags as this continues, im not sure if these tags will even show up correctly, keith is a patient at the hospital for being severely underweight, klangst, lance and pidge are kinda not really engaged, lance is a dick at first, lances family owns a chain of hospitals, rich lance, s l o w burn, the whole gangs here, will contain either shallura or shatt i haven't decided yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-03-18 12:51:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13682049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incorrectpassword/pseuds/incorrectpassword
Summary: With her head low, she responds. “Bo Yeong… Kogane… but you can call me Bobby. Or Bo Yeong. It doesn't matter to me.”The man nods and writes it down on a piece of paper. “And your father?” Bobby would have to ask about what he was writing.“Keith....” Says Bobby, the name foreign on her tongue. It’s always weird calling your dad by their first name. Bobby takes the time to take this man in. He’s very tall, taller than abeoji, and he’s wearing a nice navy suit with grey pants. His shoes were nice, they were so shiny Bobby could see her reflection in it. He’s wearing a matching silk tie and Bobby wished she could touch it, she’s never touched silk before. At least, she assumes it’s silk. All the rich men on tv always talk about their silk ties, so she figures it must be.tl;dr: Keith is a single father who is admitted into a hospital that Lance owns.





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

> important background stuff for total comprehension:
> 
> a “--” implies a POV change or a time skip. Sometimes both. I won’t be spelling out which POV it's in but it's all 3rd person limited so it should be pretty easy to distinguish.
> 
> I underlined moments that you can't skip over or nothing will make sense.
> 
> healthcare in America is very expensive when you don't have insurance. Good health insurance can be the difference between an 20,000$ medical bill and a 1,000$ medical bill. It depends on the hospital, but even an ambulance can cost anywhere from 500 to 5,000. This will be important in the story (no one dies).
> 
> In this, Keith’s predicted medical bill WITH insurance is about 600. This is very low considering the conditions and how long he was in the hospital for, it would probably be closer to 1k maybe even 2k. But I didn’t want it to be too-too much.
> 
> hyung deudgi 형게 듣기 - Listen to hyung. Roughly. I don’t know korean very well.
> 
> Hyung 형 - the way a younger brother refers to an older brother. A female refers to a male character this way, despite the fact that she isn’t male. I didn’t want it to be as endearing as “oppa” is in the korean language.
> 
> Haesal 햇빛 - sunshine/morning/sunlight. Also pronounced haesbich, but I don’t that romanized version put off the feeling I’m trying to convey in English. I’m using it as a term of endearment, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be used like that.
> 
> Bo yeong 보영 - female name, meaning precious jewel/flower, from sino-korean 寶 treasure, jewel, precious, rare and 英 petal, flower, leaf
> 
> Abeoji 아버지 - Informal way of saying father. I would have used ‘appa,’ which is like ‘daddy,’ in English, but if I got even ONE avatar the last airbender joke I would have pulled out all my fuckin hair ok good talk ya’ll
> 
> nows a good time to mention ive never been to a hospital

5:58. “That’ll be 10.83” Keith droned, void of inflection. The customer flashed an equally void smile and handed over 11 dollars, all in ones. Keith resisted the urge to scream and patiently counted each dollar slowly, each pull of his hand more painful than the last. The deep frown on his face stayed in place as he slid the money into the one’s slot, and with the same excruciatingly sluggish pace, noticed that he was all out of dimes. He crouched below the counter and whipped out a green five-dollars-worth roll of dimes. He made uncomfortable eye contact with the customer as he unrolled the dimes and noisily emptied them into their proper vacant slot. He then picked up one dime, one nickel, and two pennies. He grabbed the receipt from the machine parallel to the register. The customer then laid out his palm and Keith managed to place the slip of paper and the coins into his hand without having to touch him. “You’re change is 17 cents. Have a nice day.” The man then gave Keith the same uncomfortable smile and walked out. Keith sighed loudly at the empty convenience store. He was the only employee on the job in this dead little store, in this dead little town.

 

5:59. One more minute, then Keith can make his way home. He stared and stared at that second hand, that had only passed the 1. 50 seconds felt far too long. He distracted himself by checking his phone, no messages, no notifications, no nothing. Of course, as always. 

 

40 seconds. He was itching to see Bobby again. His precious flower.

35.He hates leaving her in daycare all day. At least she seems to like it there. Keith didn’t know what he’s do if she hated it.

20.He is suddenly reminded of Gracie, his childhood friend who he helped through her pregnancy, who had unfortunately died during labor.

10.Bobby wasn’t his by blood, but she’s as much Keith’s as she is Gracie’s.

1\. Finally, Keith thought as he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. As quickly as he could, he clocked out and made the three-block journey to Clear Future Child Care, Bobby’s daycare.

 

6:05. He walked in greeted the owner, an older, fuller woman who had the tendency to flirt endlessly with Keith, which he, in return, unsuccessfully flirts back. He doesn’t want a relationship with this woman, but he noticed the first time he did it his typically 20$-per-hour bill went down significantly. So he keeps it up.

 

He wraps up the conversation quickly and signs Bobby out, and then patiently waited for her appearance. She sees him first, though. “Abeoji!” she exclaims, arms over her head in preparation for a big hug.

 

“Hey, sweetheart.” Keith says, he kneels to return her tight hug. “Good day, haesal?” Bobby flashes a toothy grin and nods. Keith smiles back and ruffles her hair. “That's good. Let’s go home.” She nods again, grabs Keith’s hand and they’re off.

 

Bobby is 8 years old with dark, coily hair and fair skin. She has bright green eyes, just like her mother. She’s the best child Keith could’ve ever asked for, she’s polite and can somehow comprehend the struggles of the humble life they live, and the limitations she has. Keith wishes she could live care free just a bit longer, but also grateful that she didn’t have to learn these hardships later in her life. Keith has been a single parent raising Bobby all by himself since he was 17. Gracie died before she got to name her little girl, so Keith chose the name bo yeong, which was his mother's and his grandmother’s name. Now 26, his whole world is dedicated to giving Bobby the best life he can provide for her, which includes working 2 jobs and basically living off of 3 hours a night and copious 5 hour energies.

 

6:15. After a short walk, he and Bobby make it to they’re little 1-bedroom apartment. He spent these free 3 hours cooking, cleaning, and playing games with Bobby or watching a movie. He treasures the every second of the little time he gets to spend with her before his day starts over again. 9 o’clock rolls around before he knows it.

 

“Ok, haesal, it’s time for bed. You know the drill.” He’s exhausted, but he wished he had a little more time, just a little. A little more money, a little more support. Those are thoughts for another day, he supposes. As Bobby changes into her pajamas, Keith picks out her favourite book and waits for her to finish at her side of the bed. Keith dreads the day she’ll need her own room and her own space. They’ll have to move, and perhaps he’ll have to take on a third job.  _ I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it,  _ he thinks.

 

“You don’t have to read to me tonight, abeoji,” She says as she crawls in bed. Keith, confused and kind of disappointed, asks her why. She says, “because abeoji looks tired. You need to sleep, too.” Even after insisting it was ok, bobby refused to allow Keith to stay up any longer than he needed to. After some futile persistence, Keith gives up and goes to his side, and as soon as his head hits the pillow, he’s asleep.

 

12:00 a.m.. After 4 hours of a restless sleep, he leaves to go to his night shift at his local supermarket. He used to be uncomfortable leaving Bobby alone in the apartment, but that was before he saved some of his extra money to buy a quality security system and a series of extra locks on the front door. 3 extra locks, to be exact. He didn’t worry about the windows, all the windows on all the apartments in his complex are barred to prevent burglary, which used to be a problem in his neck of the woods; that’s half the reason he was uncomfortable leaving her alone. That, and he was always worried about his little girl, no matter what. He doesn’t mean to be overbearing, but he just wants what’s best for her.

 

He marches his way to the supermarket after making sure the door is locked tight. The store is about a mile out, so it's about a half an hour walk at an average pace. The night was bitterly cold, though, so he ran the whole way to hurry his way out of it. His bones creaked and hurt as he ran along, and sleep waited for him below his eyelids, but he refused to give in. This is what he needed to do, after all.

 

12:15. Again, Keith was the only one on-duty. No one walks in and no one walks out until 5 a.m. when his shift ends. He’s used to it by now, barely nodding awake over the course of several hours, boredom and silence making this feat the even more difficult. He should really bring a book sometime, or a DS if he could afford one. Cooking Mama is better than nothing, he thinks. He spends his time staring at the wall until his phone loudly blares, alerting him of the time. 5:00 a.m.. He groggily clocks out and runs back home, getting the not-so-strange sense of déjà vu he always gets after he begins to develop a routine. He had only recently picked up this second job, about a month ago, when his rent suddenly raised by 30%. He never asked why, but I suppose it wasn’t important. What more does an excuse give? None, that’s what. He runs back home before Bobby wakes, so he can make her breakfast and help her get ready.

 

at 5:15, he arrives back, sweaty and exhausted. He takes the quickest shower he can and prepares 2 eggs for Bobby and some toast. Keith doesn’t eat much these days, he leaves the meat of the harvest to Bobby, but he doesn’t tell her. After he was done, he goes into their bedroom and gently shakes her awake. 5:45. “Wakey, wakey, haesal. You have to wake up now.” He’s greeted with an annoyed groan and Bobby pulls the sheets over her head. Keith rolls his eyes and doesn’t even think before he ripped the comforter off and onto floor. He shook her a little rougher and loudly he says, “WAAAAAAKEY WAKEY HAESAAAAAL, abeoji made food!” she giggles at her dad’s playful antics, which isn’t very common these days.

 

“Did you burn it, this time, too?” Bobby says between fits of laughter. Keith pretends to be appalled.

 

“Fine then, brat, I’ll eat it myself,” as he begins to leave, Bobby hugs Keith from behind begging him to not eat it.

 

“Abeoji, no! I’m a growing child! A child! I need my food or I won’t grow anymore! I don't want to be 4 feet tall forever!” Keith laughs and informs her that he isn’t actually going to eat it, much to Bobby’s relief. He gets her to sit down on their flimsy dining table and she eats.

“Ok, haesal, do you want to pick your own clothes, or do you want me to pick?” Bobby dramatically puts her hand on her chin and her gaze to the ceiling, seemingly in deep thought.

“Hmmmm…” she pounders some more, “I… waaaant… you to pick them out!” Keith smiles and nods, and leaves her to finish her food. Bobby almost never gets to be selfish so he lets her indulge even if it’s something as minor as making her dad pick out her clothes. She usually ends up picking her own anyway, displeased with Keith’s choices. 

Considering it was late october, the air is cool, but not enough to wear a jacket. He chooses a knee-length red dress with elbow-length sleeves littered white polka dots. Bobby lived polka dots, almost everything she owned had the pattern. He then got her only pair of tennis shoes and some matching polka dotted socks, and came back to the kitchen with the dress on still on the hanger and flashed it towards Bobby. “Eh?” he said, referring to the dress like it was his greatest accomplishment. Bobby wrinkled her nose. He knew that meant.

 

“Hmmmm. I could do better. 5.5 out of 10.” She was joking of course, the wrinkly nose thing she does was always a sign she liked something, and not a sign of disgust. Keith laughed and informed Bobby that he’d put her outfit on the bed for when she was done. She thanked him and continued to eat. Keith was in a really good mood today, and he didn’t quite know why. Maybe is 4 hours of sleep and caffeine high is making him loopy. He didn’t doubt it.

 

When Bobby finished her breakfast, he washed her plate and tidied up a little while Bobby finished getting ready for the morning. 

 

6:30. Keith shift starts in half an hour and Bobby’s school starts at 6:45. Keith grabs her backpack and his wallet and walks her to school. They talked about everything and nothing, but, Keith can’t remember the exact point, but his vision begins to spot. Sooner rather than later, the darkness completely engulfs Keith's vision, and he drops to the ground.

 

\--

 

Bobby is quickly pulled into a panic, her abeoji is so strong, always so strong, and she can’t understand how he could suddenly get so tired from a little walk like this. The school was still very far away for her to run there and back. She couldn’t leave him here, what if someone takes him away! So instead, she waves her arm desperately on the sidewalk, screaming for help, to try to alert any oncoming cars that she needs assistance. Abeoji forgot his phone, so she couldn't use it call anyone. Not that she’d have anyone to call, though, she knows abeoji doesn’t have any friends.

 

After what seemed like 2 hours, a clean, expensive car finally stopped to help. A man about abeoji’s age stepped out. He had dark, tanned skin and short brown hair. He kneeled down to Bobby’s level and gestured to abeoji’s unconscious body and asked, “What happened here, are you alright?” Bobby could barely manage a nod through her vigorous sobs. 

 

“Abeoji… he-he just.. fell down! I-I don’t know what-what's wrong! He w-was so happy… this morning.” Ah. Bobby realized perhaps the way he was behaving this morning was a result of the second job he has now. Bobby isn’t stupid, she knows that abeoji gets up really late and leaves. She knows about all the trouble he has trying to keep them afloat and it really stings to know she can’t do anything to help. 

 

The man nods and flips abeoji so he’s on his face. He puts is index and middle fingers against his throat and leaves it there for a while. He sighs in relief when he feels a pulse, and tries to wake him up. When he gave no response, he and pulls out his phone. He calls an ambulance and it’s here in a matter of minutes. Bobby doesn’t know much about the real world, but she does know that the ambulances don’t come that quickly. She also knows they’re expensive. She’s worried if abeoji will be able to pay it off. “What’s your name, sweetie?” The man asks while in the back of the ambulance. 

 

With her head low, she responds. “Bo Yeong… Kogane… but you can call me Bobby. Or Bo Yeong. It doesn't matter to me.” 

 

The man nods and writes it down on a piece of paper. “And your father?” Bobby would have to ask about what he was writing.

 

“Keith....” Says Bobby, the name foreign on her tongue. It’s always weird calling your dad by their first name. Bobby takes the time to take this man in. He’s very tall, taller than abeoji, and he’s wearing a nice navy suit with grey pants. His shoes were nice, they were so shiny Bobby could see her reflection in it. He’s wearing a matching silk tie and Bobby wished she could touch it, she’s never touched silk before. At least, she assumes it’s silk. All the rich men on tv always talk about their silk ties, so she figures it must be. This man looks very put together. She used to see clothes like these when abeoji worked at Dillards. They were a pretty penny, so she was never allowed to touch. “What’s your name?” Bobby asks, finally.

 

“Ah, how rude of me. I’m Lance.” He continues to fiddle on his phone like he was doing previously.

 

“Where did you get your clothes from?” Bobby asks. She couldn’t help it. They looked fancier than Dillards. 

 

Lance, however, looked confused. “Um… I’m sure they’re not anywhere you would know.” Lance almost snickered at her, she could tell. 

 

“Well, I think they’re from Dillards.” This time, Lance did laugh. It was bitter and loud, and Bobby didn't like it one bit. She gave him the stink eye and demanded to know what was so funny, but he just kept laughing. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence after the laughing, Bobby returned to her interrogation. “Hey, hyung, how much do you think this… am-byuu-lence… will cost?” Lance looks genuinely surprised by this question. He doesn’t answer immediately.

 

“Why do you need to know… Bo Yeong?” Bobby shrugs, and stares are her twiddling thumbs.

 

“Abeoji’s been struggling a lot lately… this would surely be a great burden…” Lance looks surprised, again, at Bobby’s careful language, missing the whole point entirely.

 

“Well, not that much, I’d think.” The rest of the trip was silent. 

 

They arrived at the hospital soon after, keith was rushed to a waiting room. Bobby sat by his side sadly until they could get a room for him. Lance filled in the doctor of everything he knew until he was transported for evaluation. A nurse instructed Bobby to wait outside his room until the evaluation was finished. After a short while, the doctor who Lance was talking to sat down next to Bobby. He has a kind face, his hair growing white, seemingly due to stress, since he couldn’t be any older than 30. He had a long, deep scar across his nose and a bionic arm that moved with him as if he was born with it. His eyes were gentle and patient, and Bobby felt as if she could tell him her whole life story right then and there.

 

“Hello, Bo Yeong, is it? I’m doctor Shirogane. I’ll be taking care of your brother.” Bobby’s brother?

 

“But I don’t have a brother.” Bobby was confused. But Dr. Shirogane seemed even more confused. 

 

“Um, yes, the man you came in with.” Dr. Shirogane tried to elaborate. Ah, he meant abeoji!

 

“Oh! Abeoji isn’t my brother. He’s my daddy!” Bobby smiled proudly up at Dr. Shirogane. He nodded and took note.

 

“How old are you, sweetheart?” Dr. Shirogane was still sceptical and Bobby knew it. 

 

“I’m 8 years old! and abeoji is 26. Well, 25, but his birthday is on the 23rd! So he’s basically 26.” Dr. Shirogane took notes again.

 

“Has your father been… ah... acting weird lately?” He treaded lightly with his words.

 

“I wouldn't say weird… Abeoji has 2 jobs now, so he doesn’t sleep very much lately. He also doesn’t eat much, either. Abeoji  _ insists _ he eats before I do, so I never see him, but I can tell he doesn’t eat much at all!” Bobby was always so frustrated with abeoji. She knows he struggles because of her. Dr. Shirogane hums and scribbles some more notes. He then says his goodbyes and leaves Bobby to wait all alone.

 

\--

 

_ Jesus christ _ . I open my eyes slowly, but I close them right back when I was immediately greeted with a bright light. After some time, I adjust to the new surroundings and my eyes open all the way. Oh no. A hospital. The hospitals were crazy expensive in this town, since none of them are non-profit organizations. Keith always took Bobby out of this hospital chain whenever she needed to go. He sighs as he sits up, but he notices a heavy weight on his chest. He looks down and sees his daughter, and he’s glad she was courageous enough to get help for him. But he also blamed himself, it was his fault that she had to be exposed to that situation to begin with. Something bad could have happened. The pride he wore on his face quickly faded to remorse, and his signature frown then adorned his lips.

 

“Wakey, wakey, haesal.” he said as he shook her gently. Bobby woke up with a start and one look at Keith and she was sobbing into his neck, and hugged him tightly. 

 

“Abeoji…! I missed you…” Bobby pulled away and looked him in the eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, haesal…” Bobby shook her head as a way to tell him he had nothing to apologize for. Keith took this gesture silently. Bobby then jumped off the bed and went out the door, assumingly to get the attention of a doctor or a nurse. He looked around. An IV. 100, maybe even 200. A room to himself. 2k per day, easy. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. He’d faint again.

 

After no longer than a minute, Bobby returned with who I assumed was the doctor who was tasked with taking care of me. “Hello, Mr. Kogane, I’m Dr. Shirogane. I’m here to inform you about your current situation.” This Dr. Shirogane stood closer to the foot of my bed and began to explain. “You’ve been unconscious 3 days. You seem to be fairly malnourished and fatigued. You were given an special IV to try to give you the calories your body needs. Your daughter had informed us that the likely reason is you committing to two jobs.” Damn, Keith hasn’t done well enough to hide it. “So tell me, Mr. Kogane, do you have any family you could stay with? Your finances seem to be less than plentiful.” Keith thinks he was trying to make a joke, but he found it to be highly inappropriate for a doctor. 

 

“No,” he snapped angrily, “I don’t have any family. It’s just me and Bo Yeong.” Dr. Shirogane gave him a less-than-convinced look. It just riled up Keith more. “Look- doctor,” Keith sighed. “I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to. I have things I need to do and places to be.” Dr. Shirogane sighed.

 

“I’m afraid you can’t do that. You haven’t yet completely recovered and your body is still weak-” Keith cut him off short.

 

“Ok, then let me rephrase that. I can't  _ afford _ to be here any longer. I don’t have the money for this. I can’t be here. It’s not a pride thing, if that’s what you’re thinking.” That's exactly what Dr. Shirogane was thinking.

 

“But, sir, the bill shouldn’t be anymore than about 600$ depending on your insu-” Suddenly, a man Keith did not recognize walked in. “Lance, I don’t think this is a good time.” this ‘Lance’ brushed him off.

 

“So, how’s my little sleeping beauty?” Lance asks, taking a seat next to Bobby on the second unoccupied chair. Excuse me?  _ His _ sleeping beauty? Keith’s lost.

 

“Um, do I know you?” Keith asks. Lance only leans forward and puts a hand on Keiths, which was resting at his side. “I’m the one who brought you to  _ my _ hospital. Ya’know, saved your life, the usual. The name’s Lance.” Lance flashed him a toothy smile along with an unsolicited wink. Keith is not impressed. 

 

Keith snatched his hand from under Lances and crosses his arms. “So you’re the one who brought me to this expensive-ass hospital?-Bobby, darling, cover your ears-” Bobby does so promptly. “Good job, asshole. Now I’m in debt for, what? Sleeping in an pricey hotel room that smells like rubbing alcohol.” Keith was seething. Bobby only remembers him being that angry in traffic, but they had to sell their car long ago.

 

Lance seems even more annoyed. “Ummm, He-llo? No ‘thank you’? I saved your life!” Keith scoffed.

 

“The fuck you did! You just made this even harder for me! For us!” Lance rolled his eyes. Apparently he can’t see the severity of the situation.

 

“The bill is only creepin’ 10g’s. That’s like, pocket lint.” Keith pales, and shuts up. He searches his head for the right thing to say, but it never comes. Bobby slowly puts her arms back down. 

 

“Jesus christ- just… when can I get out of here?” Keith’s voice was suddenly void of emotion. Hopeless, even. Everyone in that room saw it, and they all silently agreed no one should feel hopeless in a hospital. Even Lance was beginning to feel bad.

 

Dr. Shirogane stepped up. “Yes well… I’m afraid we can’t let you go, yet.” Keith kept his comments against his gritted teeth. “Here it is policy that family or a friend checks you out… Bo Yeong has informed us that you don’t have either. So this is a problem.” Dr. Shirogane looks down, anywhere but Keith’s eyes. “So,  by policy, you’re going to have to stay here until you’ve received the fullest treatment we can give you. Considering you’re very underweight, you’ll have to stay here until you return to a normal weight, without someone to come and get you.  _ Usually _ , we’d give you some sort of health plan and send you home in a week. I’m afraid that’s just not possible, this time.” Great. Just his luck.

 

“And, doctor, how long will that be.” Keith narrowed his eyes at him in a glare.

 

“It's estimated about 6 to 8 weeks. Maybe even longer..” Jesus christ. That’s like- all of Bobby’s tuition. Keith is fucked. “Don’t worry, Mr. Kogane. Long-term patients don’t have the same fees as the quick get-in get-out kind.” That didn’t relieve Keith at all. Also, why was this doctor being so informal? How rude. 

 

“Do I, perhaps, know  _ you _ ?” Keith asks. Dr. Shirogane’s face dropped. 

 

“Oh, buddy! You don’t  _ remember _ me? My family fostered you for like 10 years! Until you were, like, 15! I thought we were joking with the whole Dr. Shirogane/Mr. Kogane thing.”  _ Holy shit. _

 

“Shiro? Oh my god,” Shiro laughs and Bobby smiles, maybe abeoji can finally have a friend again?

 

“Keith, we all thought you died or something. Give us some warning next time!” Shiro smiled warmly at him. Next time? “because I’m not letting you go again, dude. This will be 6-to-8 weeks of pure bro-gane time.” For once, Keith thinks maybe this won't be that bad. Until he looks over at Lance, who had his legs AND arms crossed in a look of… jealousy? Maybe. It could also be disgust. Keith was never good at reading people.

 

Lance caught his gaze and spoke up. “Uh, well, glad to see this family reunion, but I have better things to do.” This time it was Shiro’s turn to roll his eyes. He mouthed a ‘no, he doesn’t,’ at Keith, and, you know what, he thinks it  _ was _ jealousy. Hah. Lance quickly left the room.

 

“Don’t mind him. He’ll warm up to you. He just doesn’t like me getting close to new people. He’s kind of like an overprotective older brother, even though he’s younger than me.” Shiro has a small smile as he reminisces fond memories.

 

“Oh, are you two close?” Keith doesn’t know why he was so surprised, this much seemed obvious.

 

“Oh, yeah. I started working here to assess the kind of facility this is, but I  _ really _ work for the Holt’s Donation Center. They’re thinking of sponsoring this hospital and becoming partners, possibly merging into one company. I’m here to see if it’s up to their standards.” Shiro grins. “Also, they’ve arranged a marriage within the two companies. It’s super weird and medieval, though.” Keith couldn’t help but agree. An arranged marriage never ends well in the movies.

 

“How are those two taking it, then?” Keith assumes it’s not very good. How can it?

 

“Oh, it’s great. They're kind of taking it like when two kids want their parents to marry so they can be best-friends-forever. But they’re marrying  _ each other _ to be best-friends-forever.” Keith thinks about this. That’s ridiculous. Who would ever agree to marry someone he doesn’t love? “I know what you’re thinking, ‘Shiro, how could they possibly agree to marry when they don’t love each other?’ Well, they aren’t actually planning to go through with it. It’s temporary until we can find another way. Let’s just say the wife would actually prefer another wife, if you know what I’m saying.” Ah. That makes sense. Wait- what were they talking about again? Keith feels like it was important.

 

“So, um…” Keith trails off, not wanting to say the words himself. He gestures at his IV and leaves it at that.

 

“Oh- yes, of course. You’re treatment has already begun while you were asleep. We’ll need to weigh you again to see how much progress you’ve made. We checked yesterday- hope you don’t mind- and it was around 115 pounds. You need to be at least 155 before you can leave. But I’d prefer 160… to be safe.” Shiro flashed him a Body Mass Index to let Keith see for himself.

 

Keith whistles. “Man… I’ve really done it this time.” Shiro only nods. 

 

“Now, I know this seems silly, but we need you to meet with a psychiatrist to eliminate the possibility of anorexia nervosa. If you’re diagnosed, then you’ll have to be transferred to the psychiatric care unit.” Keith understands, he really does, but he can’t help but think this is excessive. “He’ll be here any minute, but you two have to be alone. Do you mind if I take Bo Yeong out? We’ll be right outside.” Keith nods and turns his attention to Bobby.

 

“Hyung deudgi, haesal.” Bobby nods and Shiro doesn’t know what he’s saying, but pretends he does. 

 

“ne, abeoji.” Bobby takes one of Shiro’s fingers in her hand, and they walk out, leaving Keith to wait for this psychiatrist. 

 

\--

 

“Ok, Bo Yeong. It’s just us now.” Shiro shoots her a reassuring smile and Bobby shrugs, her eyes never meeting his. “Hey, what's wrong?” Shiro has no experience with children, so he treads lightly.

 

“Is abeoji ok?” Bobby asks. Shiro should have known better than to assume she’d understand exactly what was happening. Of course it would be confusing.

 

“Yes, Keith will be fine. He just needs to gain some weight and he’ll be back on his feet in no time!” Bobby nods, her gaze still sad. “Is there something else you’re worried about?” Bobby nods again.

 

“Yeah… is abeoji  _ really _ going to be ok? I mean  _ after _ this.  _ After-after _ this.” Shiro doesn’t respond right away, so she continues. “Are we gonna have a home to come back to?” For the first time since they went out there, Bobby’s eyes meet Shiro's. He looked surprised, but a tinge of sympathy lies beneath. Shiro had expected Bobby to be more ignorant about this sort of thing, since she's so young. “Abeoji says he has to work really hard so we can live there for longer. But if abeoji can’t work, then how will we be able to live there? Abeoji says I’m too little to work, so I can’t help any.” Usually, patients have more family at home to take care of that kind of stuff. Shiro didn’t know what to do, either.

 

Without thinking, Shiro replied. “Don’t worry. You’ll have a home to come back to.” Shiro would feel responsible if they got evicted because he had to stay in the hospital for so long. Even if it wasn’t, Shiro doesn’t think he could live with himself if Keith and Bo Yeong had to live on the streets because of this. Then all of Keith’s hard work would have been in vain. 

 

“Do you promise?” Shiro was always weak with children.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I promise.” Bobby smiled sadly at him and brought her hand up, her pinky out.

 

“Pinky promise?” Shiro mirrored her smile and brought up his hand as well, linking pinkies with her.

 

“Pinky promise.” They unlatch their hands, and after a moment of comfortable silence, Shiro walked back into Keith’s room.

 

\--

 

“Hello! I’m Dr. Flores. Your psychiatrist. I know I worked hard for my Dr. title or whatever but it makes people nervous, so you can just call me Hunk.” Keith nods. Hunk seemed friendly enough. He took a seat in the chair next to him and pulled out his little notepad

 

“So, what happened?” Well, where is Keith supposed to start? That was awfully vague. Keith wasn’t in the mood for games.

 

“What do you mean, what happened?” Hunk shuffled in his seat.

 

“Well, I mean, why did all this start? You losing so much weight, I mean.” Keith hums in understanding and thinks about his answer. He lets out a breath and stares at his folded hands.

 

“Well, I always try to save money on food by buying shitty things for myself and buying the best things I can for my daughter. When I started working my second job, I decided that it was a good idea to not only buy myself the shit food, but also less of it. Bobby really wanted one of those nintendo-switches thing. I thought maybe I could get one for her for Christmas, before they became obsolete. But I guess that’s out the window, now.” It’s now October 12th. 6-to-8 weeks, huh? Hopefully they’ll be out of here in time for Christmas. After a minute of silence from Hunk, Keith looks his way just to see him  _ sobbing _ .

 

“That…. That’s so  _ beautiful _ .” Keith has handled Bobby crying before, but a grown man? That's new. With a degree in psychology? That's  _ really _ new. Keith can’t  help but to find it ironic. 

 

“Oh, no, buddy, don’t cry! It's… uh… It’s ok! I’ll get her the next system for her, for sure!” That just made Hunk sob harder, mumbling things about him being so humble and a great dad. That’s when Shiro walked back in.

 

He wasn’t even in the room for that long when he assessed the situation. “Hunk, you really need to stop crying every time someone tells you they’re story.” Hunk looked towards Shiro. “It’s unprofessional.” 

 

Hunk sniffed. “Ok, ok, I’ll suck it up. I swear.” He cleared his throat, and continued. Shiro left the room again, a little more concerned than when he entered. “Well, from my my standpoint, this isn’t an eating disorder, since is’t not as mental as it is circumstantial.” He wrote some notes. “It's not like there’s set criteria for diagnosing eating disorders other than professional opinion. I think you’re good to go, man.” Well, that was quick and painless. “Also, I can bring my switch here sometimes for your daughter to play, if you want. I won it from the side of a cereal box and I barely use it. I’d offer you to just take it, but you seem like the kind of guy who wouldn’t accept a gift like that.” Hunk was right, Keith would have refused it. If Bobby was going to get one,  _ Keith _ would be the one to pay for it.

 

“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you for offering, I’m sure she’d love that. Especially since we’ll be here a while.” Hunk absolutely beamed before excusing himself. Although, as soon as he left, he walked back in.

 

“If you don’t mind, could I play with her? mario kart is no fun alone. You can play too! It’ll be fun!” Keith huffed and smiled at Hunks endearing antics. He assured him that it was his, and that he can do whatever he wants with it, and Hunk took that as a yes, and then left for real.

 

What was Keith going to do for all this time? It seems pointless. He’ll just eat more, problem solved, so what’s the point in keeping him here? This whole situation seemed cumbersome and unlikely to bear any fruit. But yet, he know why he has to stay. He took this moment to check the time. 10:30 a.m.. Now he really wished he had that book. Bobby then came back in the doorway and Shiro poked his head through. Bobby crawled up onto Keith's lap before Shiro spoke.

 

“Hey, I’ve got other things to do. I’ll check up on you later? Also, you can’t leave the hospital so if you could make me a list or something of the things you need and your address, that would be great.” Keith wordlessly responds with a curt nod. “Ok, cool. Any questions, concerns, etc.?” 

 

“Can I leave this room? If I had to stay here for 6 consecutive weeks then I’d probably end it all.” Shiro leans against the doorway.

 

“Yeah, you can leave, but you’ll need your IV with you at all times. So no running or using the stairs or something. Also I’ve assigned you a intern nurse, courtesy of yours truly.” He gestured at himself. “Ok, well, I really need to go. I warn you, the nurse is also a Holt. A very snarky Holt. We’re working on her customer-service, but I think you can handle it. I’ll send her in. She’s been itching to, y'know, do her job.” Shiro shut the door after the curt nod of confirmation from Keith. Ok, cool, a snarky nurse is better than a boring nurse. Keith hears a muffled conversation from the other side of his door, and then a loud ‘YES!’, which succeeded in scaring the shit out of him. A short lady walked in shortly after, calm and collected but Keith can’t help but to think she was the one who had shouted.

 

“Um, yes hello. I’m Pidge. Holt. Pidge Holt. Yes.” Keith introduced himself then they sat in an uncomfortable silence, and Pidge shuffled her feet. “Soooo…” she spoke after a minute or two. “Do you want to do anything? Beat up bad guys? Go on a stroll? Talk shit? Do you need some water, maybe? Anything at all?” 

 

“I want to read.” Keith responded. Pidge’s face dropped. She slumped her shoulders.

 

“Oh. Ok. Anything in particular?” Pidge asks, monotone.

 

“Preferably one with words.” Pidge looked confused, but ended up laughing.

 

“A joke! Cool! Jokes are cool. You keep on joking, ya jokester.” She shoots him finger guns that he can’t help but think she got from someone else. 

 

\--

 

“A book! He wanted to read! I thought you said he was cool! You betrayed me!” But Shiro only shrugged.

 

“Hey, last time I saw him was over 10 years ago. He was pretty cool 10 years ago.” he assured. Pidge groaned and sat down. “This is going to be the lamest 6ish weeks ever. What if he only wants to read?? Honestly, I was hoping he’d take up my offer on the shit talk.” 

 

“Aw, you can always shit talk with me, baby.” said a voice from behind her, causing her to jump 2 feet in the air. 

 

“ _ Jesus fucking christ _ , Lance, you scared the  _ shit _ out of me.” Lance took a seat beside her, resting his head in his palm.

 

“Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us. So how’s the angry mullet man, my lovely wife?” Pidge groaned again.

 

“ _ Terrible _ , my lovely husband. He likes to  _ read _ .” Lance gasps.

 

“Reading? In  _ my _ hospital? How dare he.” Pidge nods in agreement.

 

“I know, right? What am I supposed to  _ do _ ? Wanna trade jobs?” Lance laughs at her.

 

“No way, he probably hates me.” Lance says dismissively. Pidge hums like she knows something he doesn’t. 

 

“Oh my god, does someone have a  _ crush _ ? On the  _ angry mullet man _ ?” Maybe 6 weeks with Keith wouldn’t suck that much after all.

 

“U-uh-e- _ excuse you _ ? How could you possibly conclude that from…  _ anything _ I just said.” Lance looked angry, but you know what they say, denial is the first step to acceptance. 

 

“It was written all over your face. I know you wrinkle your nose like that only when you like something. But it’s ok, dear husband, for I have fallen in love with your  _ super hot _ sister, with the  _ rockin _ ’-” Lance cut her off, with a true face of disgust.

 

“Yeah, ok, I get it, you want to bang my sister, tell me something I don’t know. Also he just has a nice face, ok. He like. A 7. 8, max.” Pidge's jaw fucking  _ dropped _ .

 

“You gave Shiro a  _ 6 _ . And  _ Shiro _ is  _ Shiro _ .” Pidge was ecstatic. She’s always wanted to play matchmaker. Who else is better than her super rich platonic-fiancé and the lonely single father? This is perfect. But Lance is a bit of an asshole around new people.

 

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. Noooo way man. Don’t meddle in my relationships, he's a total  _ douche _ , Pidge. He blames  _ me _ for him being in debt or whatever.” Lance crossed his arm over his chest.

 

“Have you  _ maybe _ considered that  _ maybe _ he’s just overwhelmed? Or something? He seemed pretty mellow to me.” Pidge mirrored his actions, and crossed her arms. “And you’re no saint. I know how you get around new people.”

 

Pidge is right. Lance was never a diplomat. “Ok, let’s say you’re right, what do I do? Hypothetically. He probably still hates me.” Pidge lets out a breath and leans back, uncrossing her arms.

 

“Hmm. How about bring him a book? I still haven’t done that yet.” Lance groaned.

 

“Right now?” Pidge only nodded. “Ugh, ok. Did he want anything specifically?”

 

“One with words.”

 

\--

 

“You brought me the  _ Bible?”  _ Lance put his hands on his hips.

 

“Well, you said one with words. This one has plenty of words.” He put his arms back to his side. “Also you sure said  _ jesus christ _ and  _ oh my god _ a lot. Figured you’d like it.” Well, at least he was being thoughtful. I guess it's the thought that counts?

 

“I’m an atheist, but I suppose this does meet my criteria. Words. But I was hoping for something I could read to Bobby.” Who was, conveniently so, in the bathroom. Lance clicked his tongue in distaste.

 

“Wow, ungrateful, much?” Keith pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“C’mon. I didn’t mean it like that.” Keith rubbed his hands down his face in frustration. Would anything get through his thick skull?

 

“Oh,  _ sure _ you didn’t. I know you hate me. The feeling is mutual.” Lance turned his head to the side, his cheek facing Keith.

 

“How can I  _ hate _ you. We’ve barely even met!” Lance wrinkled his nose, sort of like how Bobby does. “But I’ll tell you this, you’re making it  _ really _ hard for me to like you.” Lance scoffed and turned back to him.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m the most  _ generous _ and the  _ kindest _ person on the planet!” Keith laughed in his face.

 

“Hah! ‘ _ wow ungrateful much blah’ ‘ten-thousand-fucking-dollars, that's pocket lint blah blah _ ’” he mocked. “Yeah, so kind. So generous. I’m so amazed and in  _ awe _ by your bountiful samaritan actions.” Lance was genuinely offended.

 

“Oh, well, don’t act like you know me,  _ mullet _ .” Keith shook his head, like he was scolding a child.

 

“Oh, and you know me? Amazing.” Lance leaned in really close to Keith’s face, his anger more and more apparent by the second.

 

“Oh yeah, I know all about you. And your wife. What a pity what happened.” Keith was not going to take any more of this. He grabbed his shirt collar, and tried to sound as intimidating as he could while bedridden.

 

“Don’t you talk about her that way.  _ At least I loved my wife. _ ” Keith knows it was a lie. He and gracie never married, they were best friends since high school. He just wanted to shut him up.

 

“Yeah? Well, at least my wife isn’t  _ dead _ .”

 

\--

 

“How did it- oh no. Lance, what the fuck?” Pidge cradled her face in her hands, not knowing how Lance could fuck up something as easy as delivering a book. Lances face had a growing shiner on his left eye and blood dripping from his nose.

 

“He punched me.” Lance sighed and slumped in the chair next to Pidge.

 

“You probably deserved it, too. I’d bet on it.” Pidge knows Lance. He always knows how to make a situation worse.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”


	2. Day Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof, almost 8k words this time. enjoy a little more klance bonding also exposing shiros darkest secrets oooOoo
> 
> hunk/bobby bonding next chapter get r e a d y

1:19. Keith can’t believe it. He actually can’t believe it. He knew Lance was a douche but that was… Too much. Way too much. What kind of audacity does he have?

 

“Abeoji… Don’t cry…” Was he crying? Jeez. Keith was quick to dry his face.

 

“It’s ok, haesal.” he sniffled. “Lance just said a mean thing. Sticks and stones.”

 

“I know, abeoji. Sticks and stones. but that doesn’t make it right.” Bobby sat the foot of the bed and patted Keith's leg in a comforting way.

 

“You’re right, haesal.” Keith smiled, he was feeling better already. Through thick and thin he knows he and Bobby will always have each other. They’re family, after all.

 

“But I don’t think you should have punched him.” Keith laughed. “Leave that to  _ me _ next time. No one makes  _ my _ abeoji cry. I’ll make him pay!” Keith left the smile on his face.

 

“You don’t need to do that, Bobby. Violence isn’t the answer, you know.” Bobby shook her head.

 

“This isn’t about answers! It's about  _ vengeance _ !” Bobby flung her fist in the air and looked determined. Now, Keith couldn’t say no to that little face.

 

“Ok, haesal. Avenge me! AAAAAAAAA!!” Keith let out a yell.

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” Bobby yelled back. They both laughed. “Actually, I’m gonna go give him a piece of my mind!” 

 

Keith picked up the Bible. It was better than doing nothing. He flips mid-way through and starts reading. “Ok, sweetie. but take Pidge with you. There's a button or something somewhere.”

 

“A button or something somewhere… Ok, got it.” There was a big red button in the wall with ‘ASSISTANCE’ in large, bolded letters. Bobby couldn’t read it, but she thinks it’s the right one. She pushed the button and sat down, bouncing impatiently. After about 5 seconds, she begins to push it over and over.

 

“Alright, alright, jeez I heard ‘ya the first time.” Pidge has a palm on her forehead in annoyance. “Yes?”

 

“Bobby here has a request.” Keith said without tearing his eyes off the book.

 

“Yes! Take me to hyung!” Pidge thought for a moment. Hyung…

 

“Who, Shiro? Oh, he’s out at the-” but she was caught short.

 

“No, no,  _ no _ ! Not the  _ nice _ hyung the  _ mean _ hyung!” Pidge let out a sigh.

 

“Oh. Lance.” Pidge was nervous already, but she was curious to know what all the beef was about. Lance wouldn’t tell her, but he had been really ashamed about it.

 

“We speaketh  _ not _ his name!” Pidge promptly snaps her heels together and salluts. 

 

“Sir, yes, sir!” Bobby giggles and approached her, her hand out. Bobby was so used to holding hands that she did it from habit. Pidge momentarily looked confused, but eventually caught on and extended her arm out to her. “Let us flee.” Bobby nodded and they were on their way.

 

\--

 

“So, what's this about?” Pidge noticed the way Bobby stomped her feet and the deep frown on her face that was different from her usual persona.

 

“Hyung said mean things about eomeoni!” Bobby said, rather loudly, she should mention.

 

“Eomeoni?” All this korean mumbo-jumbo is gonna get really old, really quick, Pidge thinks.

 

“Eomeoni! Mama!” Bobby responds.  _ Jesus fuck, Lance, out of all the things. You bring up his dead wife. Good job, loser. “ _ He made abeoji cry!” Oh my god. Lance is  _ dead _ . You can’t just make a patient  _ cry _ at a hospital! Much less the hospital you  _ own _ ! Now Pidge was mad, too.

 

“Hey, Bo Yeong. What do you plan on doing to lance once you see him?” Bobby smirked.

 

“I’m gonna kick him in the shin. Hard. He’ll have a bruise for a week!” Pidge admires her confidence.

 

“Could I help?” Bobby beams a toothy smile at her and nods vigorously.

 

“Absolutely! But  _ me _ first!” After a few moments, Pidge stops at Lance’s office door, once they arrive. She knocks, but only long enough to when Lance is standing up.

 

Then she proceeds to kick the door open and exclaims. “I. WANT. A  _ DIVORCE _ !!!” Bobby mirrors her hand-on-hips pose.

 

“YEAH! A DIVORCE!” Bobby agrees. Pidge doesn’t think she knows what that means. Before any other words could be said, Bobby marches up and kicks him in the shin, as promised. Lance lets out a curt  _ fuck  _ and his knees buckle.

 

“Yeah, I deserved that.” Bobby huffed. Pidge then approached him, and slapped him across the face. “Yeah. That, too.”

 

“Lance what the  _ actual _ fuck- Bo, honey, that’s a bad word, don’t say it- you can’t just  _ do that _ to a patient! You made him  _ cry _ !” Lance lost all the colour in his face. He leaned against his desk.

 

“Shit.  _ Shit _ , Pidge. I didn’t know it would hurt him that much. Now I feel like an asshole. I  _ am  _ an asshole.” Pidge agrees. But, as much as she feels Lance’s remorse is justified, she can’t help but to want to see his smile again. Ah, man. Pidge has  _ always _ been weak to him. No hetero or anything, though.

 

“I need to apologize to him.” Bobby clears her throat loudly, not letting him pass. Lance leans down to look her in the eyes. “Look, Bo Yeong. What I said is wrong. I didn’t think before I said it, and I didn’t mean it. Can I please go say sorry to your abeoji?” Bobby shrugged and looked at her feet, her eyes watering.

 

“Yeah, I guess so. But don’t make abeoji cry again, please. His smiles are hard enough to find as it is.” A single tear drops to the floor and Lance feels like he might cry, too. “And I miss eomeoni, too. I don’t remember her, but I miss her too.”

 

“I know, sweetie. I know what it’s like to lose an eomeoni, too. What I said was really awful of me.” Bobby nods. “Hey, can I have a hug? To make amends?” But Bobby shook her head.

 

She wiped her tears and took to deep breath to steady her breathing before she spoke. “If abeoji forgives you, then I’ll hug you. But we’re still not friends!!” Lance nods, and wrinkles his nose. Bobby boops it. “Do you do that when you’re happy, too?” Bobby asks.

 

“Yeah… yeah, I do. You, too?” Bobby nods. “Can I go say sorry to your abeoji now?” Bobby nods again, and reaches her hand out, again, but this time to Lance. Her little hands could only grip around two of his freakishly long fingers. “So, I see I’ve been upgraded to hand-holding privileges?” Bobby looks a little embarrassed, but just grips them tighter, shushing him. Pidge stays behind to make sure she didn’t permanently damage the door. Bobby doesn’t let go of his fingers as they reach Keith's room, and they walk in together.

 

2:00. “You back, haesal?” Keith asks, not looking up.

 

“Yeah… it’s us... “ Lance replies. Keith looks from his book and scowls at Lance. Lance sighs and kneels down to Bobby’s level again. “Hey, could you wait outside for a second?” Bobby looked wary. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything mean again.” Bobby thinks for a moment, but ultimately nods and releases her hold, and goes to wait.

 

Lance begins to speak after the laches close. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go that far. I was being insensitive.” Keith didn’t look too convinced. “I really wasn’t thinking. You’re my guest here, and I should have treated you with respect and made you feel welcome. I didn’t mean to disrespect you or your wife. I was just all riled up.” Lance looked genuinely defeated. If Keith knew anything about liars, it’s how to spot them. Keith didn’t sense a speck of deception in his body language or his tone. 

 

“She wasn’t… my wife…” Lance snapped his head up to look Keith in the eyes. “Or my girlfriend… we were just friends…” Keith rubbed his arm. “Biologically… Bobby isn’t mine.” Lance seemed to freeze in his seat. “Gracie… She was drunk, and… she didn’t remember who the father was so I told her I’d help her raise Bobby… I couldn’t just leave her to be a mother at 17.” Keith paused, to look at Lance, who seemed deep in thought. “She… passed away shortly after she was born. She only got to look at her once before she was gone.” Keith rubbed his arms faster to keep his emotions under wrap.

 

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Keith let out a bitter laugh, and turned away from Lance.

 

“And what would you know. About raising a kid alone with two full time jobs for 8 years, and still barely scraping by? What would you know.” As much as Lance doesn’t want Keith to make any assumptions about his life, his assumptions aren’t wrong. Lance has never had financial struggles or any struggles with raising a kid. Ever. He really can’t understand, but Keith isn’t giving him a chance to. “I don’t need your pity.” 

 

Lance only shook his head. “I don’t pity you. What does pity do? I’m sorry I said the things I said to you, and I’m sorry for not taking you seriously.” Keith doesn’t respond.

“Do you forgive me?” Silence. Again.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I can forgive you just yet. You’ll have to earn my trust first. But I don’t hate you now, I’m glad you apologized. One might say I  _ kinda _ like you. Just a tiny bit. Maybe.” Lance looked even more defeated then he did when he walked in.

 

“How do I do that? Earn your trust, that is.” he asks quietly.

 

“Just show some respect for me. Be yourself, and not an asshole.” Keith tried to joke to calm his nerves a bit. Lance let out a brief chuckle.

 

“I’ll try.” But Lance didn’t look to be relieved at all. He didn’t wrinkle his nose. So Keith did what he does to Bobby when she’s anxious.

 

He brought Lance’s knuckles up to his lips and kissed them softly. “Tosil-tosil albam-eul!” He says. Lance just gets flustered, and stutters more than a grown man probably should. “It’s a line from a nursery rhyme back in Korea. It usually help to calm down Bobby. I thought it might work on you.”  _ That was pretty gay _ , Keith thought, but ended up thinking nothing of it. Lance tried to form words to say, any at all, but the right ones just weren’t there. He ended up painfully taking his hand out of Keith’s and leaving before he could make any more of a fool out of himself. He meets Bobby outside.

 

2:30. “Did abeoji forgive you?” Lance shakes his head sadly.

 

“No, he didn’t. I don’t think he hates me now, though.” Bobby reached for his hand, the same one Keith kissed. 

 

“That's good. I guess I’ll stop calling you  _ The Bad Hyung, _ now.” So, he was the bad hyung to begin with? Ouch. Bobby left Lance alone to meet her father, and he just stands there for a bit, trying to understand exactly what happened.

 

His lips were a lot softer than he thought they would be.

 

\--

 

“Abeoji, why didn’t you forgive hyung?” Bobby asks softly. She thought  _ for sure _ he’d forgive Lance.

 

Keith sighed. He seems to be doing a lot of that lately. “Well, I want him to open up to me a little more. If we aren’t going to be close, I don’t see a reason why I should forgive him. And, who knows? Maybe that was a whole façade and he was just putting on a show.” Although he doubts it, he can’t exclude it quite yet.

 

“Well, I think he’s gonna be nice from now on.” Bobby says, “And I think he likes abeoji!”

 

“Yeah? I hope so. I wouldn’t want him to hate me.” Bobby doesn’t tell him she thinks it's the  _ other _ type of like. Bobby has never seen abeoji  _ ever _ have a boyfriend. Although, she’d much prefer him to date the other hyung with the white hair. He was nice. Or maybe Bobby would just keep him for herself. 

 

“Do you think abeoji will ever like hyung?” Bobby asks.

 

“Oh, I like him fine. He seems pretty genuine, I guess. For now. But I don’t trust him.” Keith doesn’t know how to explain it any better. He has a hard time trusting others.

 

“Oh, ok. What about the other hyung? You like him, right?” Keith nods.

 

“Yeah, I like him. I trust him.” Bobby smiles. That's good. Keith smiles back. Keith leans over and pushes the assistance button, and Pidge walks in shortly after.

 

“Yes, hello, I have arrived.” Pidge announces. Keith closes the Bible and tosses it at her. Gently. That thing is like a cinder block, after all. She catches it easily.

 

“Could you please get me another book? Preferably with smaller words and a set plot.” Pidge gave him a thumbs up, and went to leave, but stopped in her tracks.

 

“Hey… are you and Lance ok? He wouldn’t tell me anything.” She inquired.

 

“Oh, I’d like to think so. I’m glad he didn't have so much pride that he wouldn’t apologize to me.” 

 

“Yeah. Lance isn’t prideful, as much as it looks like he would be. Or, at least, not any more prideful than anyone else. He’s a good person, I promise.” Keith wants to believe her, he really does. But those doubts keep lingering. Keith doesn’t respond, and Pidge takes that as a chance to leave. But she pops back in moments later.

 

“Lance wants to know if you like coffee. You like coffee?” Pidge seems a little rushed.

 

“I’m more of a tea kind of guy.” Keith responds. 

 

“Ok, but what  _ kind _ of tea?” Pidge asks quickly.

 

“Surprise me.” Pidge mumbled something about not liking the last surprise he got, and sends a quick text before leaving for real. 

 

“I like that noona a lot. We’re almost the same height!” Keith couldn’t help but to laugh, and he ended up choking on his own spit. He was still coughing 2 minutes later when Pidge returned with a book.

 

“Are you ok? Are you dying? Are you contagious?” Keith just laughed through his coughs and used his hands to motion that there was nothing to worry about. He took a deep breath and quieted down a moment later. 

 

Pidge hands him a book. “It's Shiro’s favourite. He’s always reading it, I took it from his personal collection.” Keith reads the cover aloud.

 

“The Chamber of Lies: A Harry Potter fan stor- jesus christ, Pidge, is this fanfiction? Did you give me fanfiction? Shiro reads fanfiction?” So many questions. “Is it PG?”

 

“Who knows.” Pidge responds. “Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s like, Ender's Game or something space-y like that. I just took the cover off of the actual book. Which, might I mention, is  _ still _ a book Shiro has in his personal collection. C’mon, it was funny!”

 

“Ok, it was kinda funny. Thanks for not actually giving me one of Shiro’s smutty fan novels.” 

 

“Anytime.” Keith doesn’t call upon Pidge again for the rest of the night.

 

\--

 

“He  _ kissed _ my  _ hand _ , Pidge. Like a goddamn romance novel. Or one of those choice mobile games where I could either kiss him back or murder him in cold blood.” Lance had driven back home for the night, and Pidge was in the car with him. He’s been taking her home every day since she started interning. But today, they decided a drink or two would be good for both of them, so at the moment, Pidge and Lance are standing in Lance’s kitchen, drinking vodka straight from the bottle.

 

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Lance. Congratulations?” She takes another shot. “I’m proud of you?” 

 

“No, I need  _ advice _ . How do I get him to  _ like me. _ ” Lance groaned.

 

“Wait I thought he kissed your hand, doesn’t that mean he likes you?” Boys are so complicated, what the fuck.

 

“No, he just  _ tolerates _ me. He says I need to earn his trust. By being  _ myself _ .” Pidge laughs. “I know, right?! That's like.. a snake asking for forgiveness for biting them in the leg, and saying you’ll  _ only _ trust them again if they inject you with 14 milliliters of venom straight in a blood vessel instead of just the normal bite, next time. And  _ I’M _ the snake!”

 

“Lance that’s… the  _ worst _ metaphor. What does that even mean?” Pidge was a lot dumber when she was intoxicated.

 

“It  _ means _ I’ll still be a dick!” Lance sinks to the floor with the vodka cradled in his arms.

 

“Aw, Lancey, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re only a massive douche to new people. Once Keith is no longer a new people, then… POOF! problem solved!” Pidge snaps her fingers like she's the most ingenious person to ever walk the face of the earth. 

 

“You sure, man?” Lance looks up at her, still cradling the alcohol.

 

“ _ Hella _ sure, man”

 

The next day, Lance wakes to an obnoxious alarm and a pounding headache and no sign of Pidge was anywhere. He assumes she was in the guest bedroom, per usual. He swears, she spends more time at his house then her own house.

 

He quickly snoozes it, and reluctantly stands up. He picks up a bottle of Advil and swallows two dry. He then slowly makes his way out of his room and into the room he suspected Pidge would be in. He walks in to see her face down with no blankets, soundly sleeping. To wake her up, he throws the advil at her and she groans. He then goes to get ready for work, which was usually just sitting in is roomy office doing paperwork and reviewing complaints and other mundane tasks. Sometimes he has to make business deals but other than that it's so  _ boring _ . He wouldn’t trade it for the world, but he does wish it was a little more exciting. 

 

After a quick shower, he goes to check on Pidge again, who was in the same position from last time he checked. So he grabbed Pidge’s  _ favourite _ scented candle at lit all three of it's wicks, settting it on her bed side. After a moment of burning, she was wide awake.

 

“BANANA MUFFIN, LANCE? You KNOW that shit smells like absolute  _ ass.  _ Who ever created it should be  _ exonerated. _ ” Pidge was quick to blow them out. “Disgusting.”

 

“Exonerated for what?” Lance asked.

 

“For being a shit human being.” She grumbled. She sat up quickly, resulting in her hissing and applying futile pressure to her throbbing forehead. “ _ Fuck _ .”

 

“I threw advil at you like, 30 minutes ago. You’re welcome. Don’t take any more than 2, you're about the size of a pinhead.” Lance walked away before she could beat him for the short joke.

 

The rest of their morning is uneventful. No interesting conversation or questions, both too tired to have a coherent conversation just yet.

 

8:00. “Lance, hurry up. We have to go. We were supposed to be there like, 15 minutes ago.” Lance was riling himself up in the mirror. She mustn’t interrupt his routine.

 

“Who’s the fairest of them all? Me, bitch. Oh, that's right, fuckers. Who’s hot? I’m hot. It’s me. Who’s gonna walk into that hospital and do paperwork for 12 hours and  _ fucking like it? _ Me. Oh yeah. Fuck ‘em up.” He shoots finger guns at himself and turns to the doorway, where Pidge was watching him perform his daily ritual with amusement. “How do I look?” He asks her.

 

“Beautiful. Amazing. So handsome. I’m sure Keith will love it. Can we go now?” Lance crossed his arms.

 

“Wow, and to think _I_ was going to buy _you_ _coffee_. But you’ve _betrayed_ me.”

 

“No, no, that’s where you’re wrong,” Lance wonders where exactly she’s going with this. “Keith likes  _ tea _ .” Lance just rolled his eyes and pushed passed her.

 

“Calm down, cupid. I’ve literally had 2 conversations with the guy.” Pidge is quick to join him by his side.

 

“I know, but he  _ kissed your hand. _ like a  _ goddamn romance novel _ .” She mocked. Lance groaned.

 

“Don’t remind me…” He responded. He let out a huff as he closed and locked the front door on the way out of. For someone of his social class, he chose a modest upper-middle class, one-story house to call home. Surprisingly, he doesn’t enjoy spending a lot on things typically people with that much money would. One house, one car, things like that. The only thing he  _ does _ spend money on, though, is clothes. He always had all the newest things from all the latest designers, and takes a lot of pride in his appearance.

 

Lance opens the door to the driver side of his car, and didn't bother waiting for Pidge to get in the passenger seat before starting the ignition. “Lance. Lance, one warning. Don't say it.” Lance says it, anyway. He always does.

 

“Are you sure you’re tall enough for the front seat?” Pidge huffed as she buckled her seatbelt.

 

‘When will the torture end.” Lance began to pull out of the driveway.

 

“Get your own car. And grow a  _ good _ foot and a half. Then we’ll talk.” Pidge didn’t bother to respond, this time. They sit in a comfortable silence until Lance pulls up to the drive through of some coffee shop that looked to not be complete shit.

 

“Oh shit, you’re  _ actually _ getting tea for Keith. That’s  _ gold.” _ Pidge smiled, knowingly.

 

“ _ Shut up _ \- Um, yes I would like, uhhhm.. Pidge do you think he like cold or hot tea. Sweet or bitter. Weak or strong.” Does this man not know how to use his gut? Fucking hell.

 

Pidge unbuckled her seatbelt like it was the hardest thing in the world and crawled over Lance, and screamed the order in the drive through microphone. “HI, CAN I GET A MEDIUM ICED RASPBERRY TEA, A SMALL HOT CHOCOLATE, A LARGE BLACK COFFEE WITH 4 ESPRESSO SHOTS AND A SMALL CARAMEL FRAP.” Pidge was unbearably loud.

 

“What the fuck, Pidge, now they’re going to spit in our drinks.” She only shrugged and sat back down, not bothering to buckle up again. Fuck it. 

 

When they drove up to the window, a man with a headpiece looked at them with a grimace and handed them a drink carrier with their order, Lance pays up and gets the  _ fuck  _ out of there as soon as he can. Guess he’s never going there again.

 

\--

 

8:30. This is the latest Keith has woken up in a while. Bobby, however, stood at the opposite end of the room, staring out the window, wearing too-big hospital-themed t-shirt and sweatpants and Keith wonders where her little polka dotted dress is. 

 

“Good morning, haesal. Whatcha up to?” Keith asks groggily. Bobby only shrugs.

 

“Not much,” she responds, “Hyung came here earlier, though. The nice hyung. I gave him the list you wrote before you fell asleep.” Keith nods, and stretched.

 

“How long have you been up for?” He asks. Bobby looks back out the window.

 

“Oh… an hour, maybe.” Keith had never seen Bobby look so… apathetic….

 

“Hey, hey, c’mere.” Keith motions with his arms, and Bobby walks over to him and climbs in his lap. “You ok, Bobby?” she only shrugs, Keith rubs he back in a comforting way. “What’s wrong?” It takes a while for her to respond.

 

“I dunno…I just feel like I can’t help abeoji. We’re here for so long, and I can’t do anything about it. Hyung pinky promised that we’d still have our home afterwards but… I don’t know…” Shiro shouldn’t have promised her anything like that. False hope isn’t something Keith believes in. Keith knows his fate when they’re out of here. Eviction. Debt. He doesn’t want to worry about it now, he’d rather get through these weeks being carefree, just being a little selfish, until he can’t anymore.

 

“I don’t know what the future holds. I wish I had the answers, but I don’t. Wish for the best,”

 

“-prepare for the worst.” Bobby finishes. Keith offers her a small smile, which she returned.

 

“So cheer up, haesal. Try not to think about it.”

 

“ne, abeoji.” Bobby returns. She then hops off his lap, and goes back to looking out the window. Keith looks up to see his IV nearing empty. He hasn’t been eating any solid foods lately, saying they had to start with liquids and build up from there. He doesn’t get it, but he isn’t in the mood to retort. He searches the nearby area for the abandoned space-y si-fi book (that was not Ender's Game, actually,) only to find it discarded on the floor, still adorned by the cover of the probable Harry Potter smut.

 

Keith took this moment of silence to really examine the room he’ll be staying in, as he’s been too overwhelmed to take it all in properly since he got here. The walls, of course, were white. The whole left wall was adorned with wide windows, and Keith wonders what floor he’s on, since not even the tips of the magnolia trees that lined the building could be seen from where he was. One fluorescent light was on in the middle of the room, but it was completely washed out from the natural light from outside. Although he doesn’t know for sure, the air inside is frigid, so Keith thinks it must be rather cool out. 

 

His room wasn’t small. It was actually quite large. His single bed was smack in the middle, but the entrance was slightly askew. To the far right corner was the bathroom door, and what he can only assume was a closet or some sort of storage cabinet. The To the side of the bathroom is a long counter, clean or debris and probably contains different medial things Keith isn't going to bother to comprehend.

 

The two chairs on his right side, although had been used, seemed to pop back up to its original shape, so it looked as if they had never been touched. 

 

Bobby was still staring out the window when Keith was forced out of his trance by a set of curt knocks. Bobby goes to open it, only to be greeted by none other than Lance. He sheepishly stepped in with a drunk carrier with 3 drinks, and he can only assume what they’re for.

 

“Mornin’ sleeping beauty,” Lance greets to Keith. “And the other sleeping beauty,” He says, smiling down on Bobby. He hands her a small, insulated cup. “I got her hot chocolate, hope you don’t mind.” 

 

“No, that’s fine.” He responds. As if by cue, both Lance and Bobby wrinkle their nose. Keith can’t help but to think it's adorable.

 

“And a tea for you. I didn’t know what you’d like, so I got you this.” He removed a clear cup and handed it to him. It was iced, and a deep pink colour; almost like juice. “Well, Pidge ended up deciding it. She told me you looked like the kinda guy who would like sweet things.” Keith hummed and thanked him, taking it from his hand. He takes a sip, well, it's definitely tea. It's raspberry, too. “Do you like it? Up to par?” Keith really liked it.

 

“Hmm… I could do better. 5.5 out of 10.” Lance couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

 

“Abeoji! Teasing is no nice!” Bobby said knowingly. Lance just looked even more confused.

 

\--

 

Wait, so Keith didn’t like it? Lance feels like he's missing out on an inside joke, which was exactly what was happening. After Bobby spoke, Keith’s face absolutely lit up, and he let out the sweetest laugh Lance has ever heard, and he didn’t need to see himself to know his face was probably red from his neck to his ears. Lance decided right there and then he’d try to make Keith laugh as much as he can.

 

“Yes, I like it.” Keith responded, taking another sip. And, for the first time, Lance is speechless. He quietly takes out his own drink, throws away the carrier and awkwardly shuffles out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Once he was out, he slid on the wall and down to the floor, where he tried to still his rapid heartbeat. He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He was so focused that he didn’t notice Shiro approach Lance, arm full of the Kogane’s belongings, and hover over him.

 

“Sleeping on the job, eh?” He says. Lance snaps his eyes open and screams, and is quick to get to his feet. Keith definitely heard that. 

 

“No, never, you know me,  _ Lance with the amazing work ethic. _ ” Lance is visually nervous, and Shiro is immediately concerned. Lance is the best at masking is emotions out of everyone he’s ever known, it's  _ so _ good that he’s  _ never _ seen a crack in it. Ever. Not that a mask is always a bad thing, Shiro’s always admired Lance’s seemingly uncharacteristic ability to stay cool and collected, and not let his emotions rule over logic during meetings and making difficult decisions regarding the hospital. Shiro wasn’t even sure Lance had ever felt nervousness at all.

 

“Hey, you ok?” He asks quietly. “Wanna talk about it?” Lance sighs and scratched the back of his head.

 

“Psssh… Maybe… Maybe once I’ve figured myself out.” He takes another deep breath, and walks away, not knowing where he was going, but not wanting to entice conversation any further. Not right now. 

 

Shiro silently entered Keith’s room, not bothering to knock. Bobby was sat on the foot of Keithvs bed, sipping her drink with a satisfied face, and Keith mirroring her actions. The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. When Bobby saw him, she handed her drink to her father and jumped up to greet him.

 

“Look, abeoji! Hyung came back!” Shiro greeted Bobby back, excused himself for barging in and emptied his arms with the things Keith requested he brought on the counters on the far side of the room.

 

“Ok. I have the things. Clothes, shoes, etc… Also, what the f-  _ heck _ is this?” Keith hums questioningly as to what he was pointing at. It was Keith’s cell phone.

 

“It's my phone.” He says it like it's obvious.

 

“Well, yeah, sherlock, but… is this a  _ iPhone 4 _ ? What is this,  _ 2010 _ ?” Keith swallowed the sip he just took, confused.

 

“Yeah… what’s wrong with it?” Shiro put it down roughly, like he didn’t want to touch it.

 

“ _ What’s wrong with it?  _ It must be super slow. How can you even use it?” Keith only shrugs.

 

“It’s not like I use it all that much.” He says, “I only use it for emergencies. And for music.” Ah. Shiro should have known. He was never the most tech-savvy person.

 

“Well, then, consider me an emergency.” Shiro plunges his number into Keith’s contacts, not surprised when he has only two,  _ Bobby’s School _ and  _ Police Department _ . Speaking of which…

 

“Hey, doesn’t Bobby need to go to school? Which school does she go to? I can take her, if you want.” Keith sighs.

 

“Her school starts super early, though… 6:45.” Shiro crosses his arms. That’s usually the time he wakes up at.

 

“Pidge should be here by 6. She was late today, though. Probably slept at Lance’s house again.” Once Shiro organizes all the crap he brought, he turns to face Keith- that’s when he sees it.  _ Harry Potter: Chamber of Lies.  _ Just lying on the floor. In all its shame. Keith follows his gaze, as does Bobby and they both start laughing. Shiro would’ve been embarrassed if not for the fact that he noticed Bobby’s and Keith’s laughs were  _ identical _ . It was so endearing, he forgot to be angry. He also noticed that in the years his family fostered him, he had never seen him laugh, or smile, or cry, or really show any emotion other than anger and content, and he thinks he can attribute that to Bobby. He’s glad Keith and Bobby had eachother, but he is certainly  _ not _ glad that they had his Harry Potter fanfiction. “Where did you…” Shiro trails off.

 

“Oh, no where.” Keith responds. “A little  _ birdie  _ loaned it to me.” Pidge. It was Pidge. She’s the only one who knows about it. Well, not anymore. Shiro decided to change the subject.

 

“Well… anyway… All if your things are there. Everything you told me, anyway.”  He puts his hands on his hips. “Anything else you need?”

 

“Yeah. Is there  _ anything _ to do around here? I’m used to working 20 hours out of the day, I haven’t had this much free time in a  _ long _ while.” Shiro shakes his head.

 

“No, not really.” He admits. “There really isn’t a need for game rooms or anything in this wing because usually the patients here are short-term. A week or shorter. I mean, there's a game room in the psychiatric unit, but it's only for residents. But, between you and me, if you’d ask Lance, he’d probably let you join him in his office. He gets a little lonely in there, and he has a  _ massive _ TV. Despite what you might think, he’s good company. You know what, I’ll put his number in your phone, too.” Shiro jogs over to get Keith's phone and charger, plugging it into his bedside.

 

\--

 

“ _ Nooooooo _ way, Shiro. Nope.  _ Not _ happening.”  Lance puts down the complaint he was reading to look Shiro right in the eye.

 

“Come on, man, he’s  _ miserable _ in there. And poor little Bo Yeong, how  _ awfully _ bored she must be.” Shiro said dramatically.

 

“You’re  _ not _ going to guilt me into this!” 

 

“I just- I don’t see what the problem is! You want him to  _ rot _ in that room for 6 weeks? How cruel! He’s your brogane’s brogane! You’re mutual brogane!” Lance will  _ not _ feel bad. Nope. Also he wants Shiro to stop saying  _ brogane. _ Instead he thinks. He thinks for a little too long.

 

“Does he… even  _ want _ to spend time with me?” The timid tone to his voice gave himself away.

 

“Well, I don’t see why not.” Shiro notes. “Also, I gave him your number. Told him to text you if he wants to hang out or something.”

 

“You gave him my number? Jeez, he’s never… going to…” He spoke too soon.

 

_ 000-867-5309: Hey, It’s Keith. Shiro so graciously offered your company to me. Would that be ok?  _

 

Shiro looked at Lance knowingly. “I think he wants to spend time with you.” Lance groans. It takes him a  _ good _ minute to type a reply. 

 

_ Lance: ya get pidge to escort you or soemthin yiu cant leave uour iv right? _

 

_ 000-867-5309: Yeah… Thanks! Maybe you won't be The Bad Hyung anymore lol _

 

“Maybe… the bad hy- wait, I’m still the bad hyung??? I thought I graduated from that!”

 

“No way, man. We all know there can only be one good hyung. And that is me.  _ I’m _ the good hyung.” Shiro seems a little too happy about that. Lance doesn’t rain on his parade.

 

\--

 

Keith called in Pidge. For emotional support? He doesn’t quite know himself.

 

“I don’t know, Pidge. Are you sure it won't be weird?” Keith's finger hovered over the send button, but he couldn’t find it in him to close the distance. He was nervous. Of a lot of things, but mostly of making a new relationship. It's been a while.

 

“Pussy up, man. Send it. Bobby’s itchin’ to get outta here. If not for you, do it for her, man.” Yes. For her. For Bobby.

 

“Ok... I.. No, Pidge, I can’t- PIDGE!!!” Pidge had grown tired of waiting and pushed send for him.

 

“Would you look at that. I’m so proud of you.” She droned.

 

“He hasn’t responded. Pidge, he’s not responding.” Pidge is quick to shut off the phone and rip it from his hands, placing it face down by his side.

 

“Calm down. It's been like, 2 seconds. Give him a minute. So, anyway, why did you decided you wanted to spend time with Lance?” Keith shrugged.

 

“It's boring here. He seems lively. A-and, Shiro said he had a big TV. I’ve never had a TV, so I think Bobby will appreciate it.” Pidge voiced an unconvinced hum.

 

“Yeah, but… is that  _ it _ ? No other  _ reason _ ? No potential  _ you-know-what _ in a certain special  _ you-know-where _ ?” Pidge patted her chest over her heart, like it was supposed to mean something to Keith, but that’s when his phone vibrated by his side.

 

_ Lance: ya get pidge to escort you or soemthin yiu cant leave uour iv right? _

 

“Pidge- Pidge he said it’s cool.” Oh boy. oh boy oh boy oh boy.

 

“Gee, imagine that.” Pidge groans and types a reply for him, Keith snatches it back and quickly reads over the message she sent.

 

Keith mumbled the text as he read it. “Pidge! He’s not the bad hyung anymore, he’s graduated from it!” Bobby nods in agreement.

 

“Ok, let’s get you up, then. You haven’t walked in like, what? 4ish days? You might be a little wobbly, but I gotcha.” Pidge carefully takes out his IV and band-aids it “We also need to weigh you. Once a week, baby.” She leans over to the small chest at the foot of the bed and grabs the shoes he came here in, as well as some sweat pants and hospital-themed t-shirt that were identical to Bobby’s. Bobby, immediately offended by the fact that they were to be matching, goes to put on one of the dresses Shiro brought from their home. She quickly dressed in a blue sundress, with elbow-length sleeves and a rounded collar, with her only pair of sneakers. She admires herself in the mirror as Pidge lends Keith a hand in standing up.

 

He noticed that it wasn’t quite that difficult to stand, but it took him a while to find his balance. Pidge then curtly turned around while he changed. He noticed that the clothes were much to big, despite being the smallest size they had. Small. Keith can’t help but think that perhaps the women's sizes would fit better. He notices the way his hips stick out, and the awkward way his knees bowed in. He noticed that his hair was greasy after not being washed for so long, but surprisingly, he didn’t smell all that bad. The odor wasn’t as offensive as it was neutral.

 

For the first time in his life, Keith is insecure about his appearance. He just sighs and puts on the rest of his clothes, and announces his decency to Pidge, who then reluctantly turned to face him. She extended her elbow and lead him to the other side of the room, where she pulled out a scale from the mysterious cabinets.

 

“Ok, step up,” she says. She pulls out her professional looking clipboard and a pen and waits for the numbers to come to a halt. “Damn. 121. That’s good progress, man. Starting tomorrow you can probably start drinking things again, but you’ll still be on the tube until you can eat solids.” Keith steps off.

 

“Well that’s good. I guess.” Keith doesn’t know what to say.

 

“What? Heck yeah, dude, that’s great! One step closer to recovery!” For some reason, Keith isn’t as excited as she is about this. He supposes Pidge is allowed to be excited for him. Pidge ushers him over back to his bed, where she instructed him to sit on the side and inserted the IV into his other un-band-aided arm. He took it without complaint and rolled the pole-thing where the IV was connected, to make sure the wheels would smoothly turn and not, at any point, rip the IV out. Bobby was rolling back and forth on her heels, not wanting to be impatient with her father.

 

Soon enough, they were set and ready. “Ok. Where is Lance's office?” Keith asks.

 

“On the 4th floor. On the very top. Nearly one-fourth of the floor is just his office. Think of it as like an executive suite, He doesn’t need all that room and says a lot that he’d rather it be room for patients, but his father insists he keep it all to himself. I can tell it eats away at him, though.” Pidge leads him and Bobby to a staff-only elevator, where she punches in the code to Lance’s office. She informs the that this is the only elevator that leads directly to his office, but there is a front entrance, as well. After a few brief seconds, the doors hiss open to reveal a very,  _ very _ roomy space. It must had been in a corner of the building, because 2 of the 4 enclosed walls were all glass. He had a bar and an entertainment area, with the promised massive TV, but both seemed unused. His desk was modest, and it was cluttered with papers and colourful pens and sticky notes. The floors were a wooden, and a deep red colour, contrasting the white tile of the rest of the facility. He and Bobby walked out of the elevator, and the door closed quietly. Keith didn’t even notice Pidge had stayed behind until it was too late.

 

“Hey there,” Keith called out, grabbing Lance’s attention. He glanced up, gesturing for him to come closer. Keith had never seen him more focused, not that he had seen him much at all. Bobby rushed over to his side and tapped him on his thigh.

 

“Hmm?” Lance responded, not looking at her.

 

“Can I use your TV?” She asks politely. Lance mumbles a non-committal ‘yes,’ and tells her to keep the volume down. Keith slowly makes his way over there and sits in a chair directly in front of his desk, he scoots it closer and leans his elbows on the edge, right in front of him.

 

“Yes?” Lance asks. Keith inches forward.

 

“Whatcha doin’?” He asks. Lance just groans.

 

“Complaints. That’s pretty much all a guy gets to do around here. Some of them are pretty funny, though.” Keith reads one of them that lay flat on his side.

 

“So, are all of these complaints?” Lance nods. “West wing… is too loud…” he picks up another. West wing noise complaint. And another, west wing noise complaint. “Hey… What’s in the west wing? And why is there so many complaints from there?”

 

“Birthing center. Lots of screaming and crying from there 24/7. I just usually throw those away.” Keith puts them down. Birthing center?

 

“A birthing center?” He leans back in his chair. “Man, I love kids.” He says. “It’s like holding a little piece of the future, right in your arms.” Keith smiles to himself at his memories with Bobby. Lance wrinkles his nose. “What about you?” Keith asks. “You like kids?” 

 

“Oh, absolutely. I’ve always wanted kids, before I get too old. Don’t know how, don’t know when, but it’s definitely on the bucket list.” It wasn’t a lie, far from it. Lance was a very family-oriented person, and if he never had a family of his own, he know he’d feel unfulfilled. “‘ve always been big on family, y’know?” Keith agrees.

 

“Yeah, me too. I’ve always wanted to get married, though. As much as I love Bobby, three’s a crowd. I’d love a husband one day. Give Bobby another abeoji.” Keith was lost in thought.

 

“Husband?” Lance asks. He hopes for gay. Please say gay.

 

“Oh, sorry I guess I didn’t mention it. I’m gay.”  _ Score _ . “I used to have a thing for Shiro, back in the day. I blame him for my sexual awakening.” Lance laughed at this.

 

“Yeah, I can imagine Shiro is a lot of people’s sexual awakenings. I’m no exception.” Lance flips through a few more papers. “It was when he first started working here, he asked me if I wanted to go work out with him, or whatever, as a bonding thing. He took off his shirt and I was a changed man.”

 

“Oh, are you gay, too?” Keith inquired. Lance shook his head, and Keith almost felt the pang of disappointment. 

 

“Nah, I’m bi. Although, I’ve never been with a guy before.”

 

Keith huffs. “That makes two of us.” Lance has questions, but he decides that’s for another day. Keith fiddles with the tape on his IV while he waits for a response, or something else to say. Whichever comes first. “Can I help you? With your complaints?”

 

“Oh, that really isn’t necessary, especially considering you’re my guest. But if you really insist, it's not like I’m going to say no.” Keith nods and grabs a handful of papers from the pile Lance was grabbing them from. “Discard any of the ones about noise from the west wing and put all the other ones… anywhere else.” Keith goes to work sorting the papers, and he’s never felt like he's belonged as much as he does now. He feels content when he’s working.

 

“Oh! Look at this one. ‘douchebag nurse ate my fucking bagel.’” Lance laughs, and Keith hands it to him. He smiles when he realizes the patient offered Pidge the bagel, and she took it. She told him about this with it happened. He put it with the pile of good ones and the continue on like that for hours. Neither of them even realize when Pidge brings lunch for her and Bobby, two hours later.

 

They talk about anything and everything, and Keith is surprised at how easy it is to talk to him, and how natural the conversation feels. At somewhere around 6 o’clock, they both hear Bobby’s gentle snores and they decide to call it a night. They had finished the complaints long ago, after all. Lance calls Pidge back up, and she escorts them down, and they clean up for the night. She comes back up shortly after.

 

“So how was your  _ date _ ?” Pidge asks, all ears.

 

“I don’t think it counts as a date if were in my office, in a hospital, filing complaints with his kid.” Pidge groans.

 

“Conventional date titles don’t fit you two at all, young one, can’t you see?” Lance stretched up from his chair, cracking his neck and knuckles.

 

“You know what? Sure. Sure, the  _ date _ was great.” Lance’s nose was wrinkled, of course. Pidge was happy to see him in such a good mood. She was pulled out of her thoughts by her phone vibrating in her palm.

 

_ Hunk: Hey, is Keith doing anything tmw? I’m going bring my switch. Me, Lance, Bobby, Keith, Mario kart to the death! _

 

_ pidgeon: bobby has school tomorrow until 2:30 also what about me??? or have my mario privileges been revoked? _

 

_ Hunk: hey, Bobby gets top priority. So does Lance. And Keith. and me, cause it’s mine. So therefore, you are the least of my concerns. _

 

_ pidgeon: did i say 2:30 i means 2:never because ive banned ur from my hospital  _

 

_ Hunk: haha see you at 2:30 ;) _

 

_ pidgeon: ugh ok _

 

“What’s up?” Lance asks.

 

“Hunk is coming by with his switch tomorrow. Mario kart party at 2:30.” Lance can afford to take a few hours off, right?

 

“Hmm… Alright. I’ll bring snacks.” He jokes.

 

“I’ll bring the alcohol.” Pidge responds. Lance shakes his head.

 

“Alcohol isn’t allowed on hospital grounds. I’ll fire you, you know,” Lance says, only  _ half _ joking.

 

“Do you promise?” Pidge asks. Lance clicks his tongue and slumps back down, thinking about the day he had, and the days to come.


	3. Day Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i haye this chapter tbh i feel like i rushed but its 9k words this time instead of 7k to make up for the 2 month wait oof so sorry

Lance was carrying the sleeping Bobby in his arms, side by side with Keith at the end of their day together. Once they reached Keith’s room, Lance noticed that there isn't a separate bed for Bobby.

 

“Hey, Keith?” Lance asked, Keith humed a ‘yes’ and Lance continued, “Do you need another bed for Bobby? It’s like… 6ish, you couldn’t possibly be tired yet.” 

 

“I don’t know… She’s used to sharing a bed with me. But you’re right, I’m not tired yet.” He looked rather lively, actually.

 

“Oh! Well, it’s no problem, we can get another one in here in a few minutes. We aren’t on short supply or anything.” Lance says.

 

“Yeah… Yeah, I would like that.” Lance carefully placed Bobby in Keith’s bed, and carefully took off her shoes, pulling the covers up to her shoulders.

 

She really doesn’t look like Keith, aside from maybe her hair colour. She has a round face and a button nose, a stark contrast from Keith’s sharp features. But, in mannerisms, Bobby and Keith are almost identical. He noticed little things, they way they walk and their inflection on certain words, they way they react to things all tend to mirror each other.

 

“I don’t like it here.” Keith says softly. Lance barely heard it, but when he did he snapped his head into Keith’s direction.

 

Lance doesn't blame him. He hates it sometimes, too. But, he still asks. “Why?” He says.

 

“It’s just… I feel powerless. I’ve been telling myself  _ over and over _ that it's ok to selfish sometimes. I chose to ignore what will inevitably happen when I get out of here, and even if I convince myself it’s all ok for now and there's nothing I can do, it's still a burden. Y’know?” Lance doesn’t know how that feels, but he’s trying his best to understand. 

 

“You won't get evicted. Or go bankrupt, and end up on the streets. I can promise that.” Keith laughs.

 

“Shiro promised the same thing. Why would he do that? Why would you do that? Why help a stranger?”

 

“You’re not a  _ stranger _ , now, Keith.” Keith rolls his eyes. “You’re Shiro’s family. He calls you his little brother all the time, even before I’ve met you.” The stress in Keith’s eyes softened. “And Shiro’s my family. So, you’re my family, too, Keith.” Keith looks him in the eye. “And Hunk, and Pidge, and Bobby, you’re all my family.”

 

“I’m just some guy. Your patient. It’s been two days, Lance. You can't make a decision like that in two days.”

 

Lance doesn’t know what to say without sounding like a broken record. He’s said all there is to. So he does the last thing he knows what to do. Being careful for the IV, Lance pulls Keith into a tight hug. Keith is tense at first, he hasn’t received a hug from anyone who wasn’t Bobby in… who knows how long. Not even Gracie hugged him, when she was alive. They mutually agreed against touchy-feely things. Lance’s strong arms around him felt foreign, and he has yet to decide whether or not that feeling was welcomed or not.

 

“You’re so stupid.” Lance says. After a while, Keith finally relaxed and pressed his forehead against Lance’s chest. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

 

“I’ve never had a family more than 2 before.” he says. “I’m a bit overwhelmed. I can’t understand it.”

 

“You’ll learn with time,” Lance says.

 

Keith chuckled. “Where did all this words-of-wisdom bullshit come from? It seems like only yesterday you made me cry by making fun of my dead wife.” Lance stiffened.

 

“Hey, I said I was sorry!” Keith brought up his arms up from his side to hug him back, almost as tight.

 

“I know.”

 

Despite Keith’s forgiveness, he couldn’t quite find it in his heart to trust him.

 

\--

 

The next morning, Bobby woke up alone, and was confused as to where her father was, and why she was being woken up by none other than Pidge at 5 a.m..

 

“Morning, Bo. You’re going back to school today.” Bobby nodded sleepily, glancing to her right where she sees her father sleeping soundly. Relieved, she nods and clumsily stands up, trotting to the bathroom and doing her morning routine as best as she knew how, but when she came out around 10 minutes later fully dressed, Pidge couldn’t help but notice her hair in complete and utter disarray, a curly mess on the top of her head. During the days she didn’t go to school, her mess of hair sat at the top of her head in a neat bun.

 

“Abeoji usually does my hair,” she says, running her fingers through it, “it's some special cream thing. Abeoji says it makes my hair look pretty. Can you do it?” Pidge doesn’t know how to do curly hair. Her whole families hair was thick and straight. Pidge glances at Keith, she can’t wake him up, right?

 

“No, I don’t know how..” she says, she looks at Bobby, who was now sadly staring at the floor. Who does Pidge know who knows how to style that kind of hair?

 

Lance. Lance definitely knows. She sends him a quick text.

 

_ 5:11 pidgeon: we have a hair emergency. and a deadline. get here as fast as you can.  _ She hopes he’s awake.

 

_ 5:13 Lance: what the fuco pidge it's 5 a.m. i was just about to go to sleep  _ Oh, man. Lance after an all-nighter is not a happy Lance.

 

_ 5:13 pidgeon: wtf why didnt you sleep also keith is sleeping and bo needs some bomb ass hair to stun all her school amigos cmon lancy dontcha wanna be the cool dad  _

 

_ 5:15 Lance: ugh i found an email about a lawsuit i didnt read until like midnight so i spent my time looking at the legality and shir like thag idk pidge its complicated also i'm not her dad so i cant be the cool dsd _

 

Lance gets lawsuit threats a lot. When a loved one dies and the family blames the hospital, Lance always takes his time to try to resolve it before they actually get sued. Pidge is more concerned about the fact that he’s almost been up for a whole 24 hours.

 

_ 5:15 pidgeon: cmon man just come down here and do her hair you used to love doing hair just sleep in your office until it's time for you to actually work boom problem solved. _

 

_ 5:19 Lance: fine but i'm coming in my pajamas  _

 

“Ok, Bobby, Lance will be here soon to do your hair. He has a sister with hair that's kinda like yours, so I think he’ll do a good job.” Bobby smiles up at her and goes to sit on her bed.

 

“Thank you, noona!” Pidge was right, all this korean is slowly frustrating her. She’d ask later.

 

Lance only lives around 5 or 6 miles from the hospital, and in minimal traffic, he should be here rather quickly. While they were waiting, Pidge shuffles through Keith’s disorderly belongings in search of a hair product. Keith sure as hell doesn’t use any, so she assumes whatever she is bound to find is probably the correct one. She eventually finds a silver tube of some fancy- looking product and flashes it towards Bobby for confirmation. She nods and Pidge sets it aside and out of the clutter. She puts her hands on her hips and surveys the surrounding area. It's a mess! She knows Shiro’s organization skills aren't the best, but this is ridiculous. She uses her time waiting for Lance putting away Keith’s belongings where they are supposed to be. She didn’t even hear Lance walk in when he arrived.

 

“Aw, my beautiful bride-to-be already doing her wifely duties, how did a man like me get so lucky?” He wiped a nonexistent tear and sniffled dramatically. Pidge jumped a little, but ended up just rolling her eyes and chucking the tube of Bobby’s whateverthefuck at Lance, who ended up dropping it. 

 

“Shut up and get to work. Nice look, by the way.” Lance was wearing a stained t-shirt and some fleece pajama pants with dirty sneakers. His hair was sticking out in all different directions and the bags under his eyes were a scarily dark shade of grey. Lance grumbled and leaned over with a groan in order to pick up the product he had dropped. He looked in Bobby’s direction and flashed her a tired smile. Bobby returned it happily.

 

“Ok, Bo, how does abeoji usually do your hair?” Bobby hummed in contemplation and put a finger on her chin.

 

“I don’t know… I guess you’ll have to surprise me.” She shrugged and flashed a little smirk to Lance. He just chuckled and motioned for her to turn her back towards him so he could get started. He used to do his sister Allura’s hair all the time when they were younger, and their hairs are… similar? Lance doesn’t remember completely. He recognizes the product she uses, though. It's sort of like a cream, if he remembers correctly. It’s used to make tight, curly hair shine like a goddamn Pantene commercial. Hella expensive, too. He just squeezed a little in his palm and tried to apply it evenly in her hair. After about 10 minutes of that shit, she finally looked presentable. Bobby rushed off to look in the mirror and then back to Lance, giving him a big hug.

 

“I love it! Thank you so much!!” Lance hugged her back and Bobby pushed away after a few seconds to grab her bag, and turned to Pidge, holding her hand out for her to take. Pidge took her hand like second nature. “Goodbye, hyung!” She waved at Lance as the two were leaving. “And goodbye, abeoji.” she whispered in Keith’s direction. 

 

“Don’t die.” Pidge says to Lance. “Or do, your choice. Just put my name in the will so I can collect your insurance deductible.” Lance smiled and waved back, and they were off. Lance now turns his attention to Keith who was still sleeping soundly. He couldn’t help the endearing smile that appeared on his face as he saw how peaceful he looked. He used a finger to gently move the hair out of his face, and Keith stirred a little, but didn’t wake up. Feeling a little more confident, he tucked a lock of hair behind his ear and kept his hand on his face for a little longer than considered platonic. 

 

What Lance did next he’d, for the time being, blame on his sleep deprivation. He pushed Keith’s bangs up and kissed his forehead. “I meant it when I said you were my family, Keith.” He put his bangs back down and turned to leave.

 

Only after the door latched shut and the footsteps silenced did Keith allow himself to blush and covered his face with his hands. That was too fucking precious.

 

\--

 

Keith's day, after the Lance Incident, was fairly uneventful. He got his IV changed and was informed that, depending on his weight gain from his last weigh in, he could possibly get off the IV within the next few days. He hates that fucking thing. 

 

Pidge stayed with Keith pretty much 24/7. They were fucking around with a deck if cards and theorizing about unsolved murder cases for the whole goddamn day. It was around noon when Lance went to go check in on Keith in place of Shiro.

 

“Nonono- its in the  _ wrist.  _ The  _ wrist.” _ Pidge groaned and slouched, defeated.

 

“No, yourself.” She mumbled. “You're like. A God. I’ll never get good at this.”

 

“Now, where’d that quitter spirit come from? Just-- no, not- no-  _ Pidge,  _ the  _ wrist!!  _ Like this.” Keith grabbed the card hand and flung it across the room, and it stuck in the wall. Pidge gaped and clapped to the master before her. 

 

“A legend.” She said.

 

“Hey, hey, don’t put holes in my hospital!” Lance wined. There was about 8 cards lodged in the wall on the opposite side of the room.

 

“Ugh. Go ‘head, might as well pour vinegar in my water bottle while you rain on my parade.” Pidge snapped, without even acknowledging him fully. “I’m gonna get this right even if it takes all damn day.” She flicks another one. It failed. Lance laughed.

 

“Ok, Pidge. I believe in you.” Lance patted her shoulder and was swatted away. He smiled and turned his attention to Keith.

 

“Hey, Keith.” Keith smiles at him but doesn’t say anything. “Shiro isn't here today so I’ll be doing your thingy-a-bopper.” 

 

“So professional.” Keith droned. Lance took a seat in one of the chairs.

 

“Shut up- pain level, 1 to 10.”

 

“10, now that you’re here.” Lance gasped, offended, and puts a hand over her heart “I'm kidding.” he says. “Maybe like… a 3. My veins feel sore and my arms are bruised from these stupid IVs. But other than that I’m fine.” Lance circled the 3 on Shiro’s borrowed clipboard and continued.

 

“Ok… Any fever, drowsiness, nausea or vomiting?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Lightheadedness when standing or moving quickly?”

 

“Sometimes, actually.” Lance looked up and meet his eyes, concerned.

 

“How often?” He asks.

 

“Only when you’re around.” Lance chokes on his own spit and his face flushed. He stuttered on his words as both Keith and Pidge belted out laughter.

 

“Yeah, yeah… You’re fine.” Lance takes a deep breath and stands up while the other two’s laughter died down. “Also Hunk is already here with his Nintendo thingy. He took the day off and everything. As soon as Bobby comes back you guys should head up there, don’t want to keep the guy waiting.” Pidge saluted him and Lance left, a bit faster than he would consider normal.

 

“ _ Dude, Keith,  _ when I bet those 5 bucks to flirt with Lance I didn’t actually mean it. But I guess now I'm 5 bucks lighter.” Pidge sighed and Keith held is palm face up, awaiting his payment.

 

“Psh, there's a lot more I would do for 5 dollars.” Keith said, almost proud.

 

“Keith… Keith, Keith, Keith.” Pidge shook her head. “Are you tempting me, the Queen of Dares? The Queen of Dares to a bet?” Keith only shrugged, playing dumb.

 

“Not sure. Am I?” Pidge hummed in thought, eyes shut. After a moment she peaked an eye open and shot him a mischievous smile. 

 

“Ok then. 5 bucks for everytime you flirt with Lance during Hunk bonding time.” Keith huffed out a laugh. Should be easy enough.

 

“Deal.” Keith says, no hesitation in his voice.

 

“BUT!” Pidge shouted. “If you hurt my little borracho bean I’ll gut you like a fish. If you’re doing this just for the money then i'm outtie, I just figured this is a good opportunity to get a move on on this… this  _ sexual tension.  _ It's  _ gross.”  _ Pidge is only teasing about that last bit, of course.

 

Keith broke out in a deep red flush and tripped over his own words. “It- it isn’t- it’s- it’s not  _ sexual tension!  _ It’s just- just-.” 

 

“Oooooh, Keith’s got it  _ bad.”  _

 

“ _ No! _ No that’s- that’s not- ugh.” Keith sat down on his bed, his face in his hands.

 

“I’m only teasing. But seriously if he asks you out because he thinks you like him it better be because you actually like him.” Keith isn’t used to all this sentimental stuff. But it seems to be a common theme around these parts.

 

“Well I, I mean, I wouldn’t not _ not _ say yes if… he y’know.” Keith couldn’t manage to say it. His pride always gets in the way of this kinda stuff.

 

“Good enough for me!” Says Pidge. She then begins to throw cards at the wall once again, and watch them pitifully flutter down, like nothing happened. 

 

Well, of  _ course  _ Keith  _ kinda _ liked Lance. And he knew Lance  _ kinda  _ liked him. What’s wrong with a little fooling around every now and then? It’s not like he’s going to marry the guy. Or fall in love with him. Not that he would know, even if he did. Keith tried anything and everything to convince himself nothing serious would come out of this, but he knew that having Shiro back in his life would change everything. He’d be around Lance and Pidge and Hunk, and probably more people that he’s haven’t even met yet, a lot more. He’s known the guy for less than a week, and if he already feels this way, then who knows what will happen in a month. Or two. Or a year. That’s how it works, right? 

 

“Hey, buddy, you ok?” Pidge says, startling him out of his trance. Should he tell her? Keith thinks it would be a good first step to opening up to his new… family? Family. He knew it was inevitable.

 

“I was just thinking… About things.” Way to ‘open up,’ asshole, Keith silently scolded himself.

 

“Wanna talk about it?” Keith shrugged again, but this time seriously. “Scoot over.” She said. Keith moved to the end of the bed, hugging his knees to his chest. Pidge sat criss-cross and faced him. “Spill.”

 

Keith sighed, avoiding eye contact. “I’m just… overwhelmed maybe, with everything. Lance told me yesterday and again this morning that I was his family now because I’m Shiro’s family, he said, and that just… I don’t know… Gets me thinkin’.” He paused and glanced at Pidge, who was listening intently. “About Lance. I already feel a little… somethin’ for him. Y’know. And it’s been like, what, two, three days? If I’m going to be around him for the rest of my life then, what if I- I fall in love or- or something.” 

 

“What’s so wrong with falling in love?” Pidge asked. What  _ was  _ so wrong with it? Keith never bothered to ask himself, but he thinks he knows the answer.

 

“Falling in love is a weakness. Caring about people is a weakness. What if he gets kidnapped or something. I’d go to the ends of the earth to save him. But at what cost? What If I can’t do anything? What if he gets like terminal cancer out of nowhere and I can’t do anything and I love the guy and then I get all  _ depressed  _ and then he  _ dies _ and then I-” Keith’s rant was cut off.

 

“Keith, we aren’t in a  _ war zone. _ Love isn’t a weakness, it makes us stronger, you dingus. Jeez, how did you survive until now?” Keith laughed, and shook his head.

 

“Beats me.” He says.

 

“Look, so what if you fall in love with the guy? You might have some issues with his dad but I’m sure that won’t affect you in the long run. Don’t stress so hard. Falling in love is easy, just let it happen, dude.” Keith nodded, clearly still stressing.

 

“You’ll be  _ fine.”  _ Pidge reassured. “If it happens, it happens. Might as well enjoy it instead of avoiding it. Denial is the first step to acceptance, anyway. Just skip all the way there, man. It’ll save us all a lot of time.” The small smile on her face told Keith she was teasing again, but he can tell she’s only half joking by the look in her eyes.

 

“Yeah… I guess you’re right. But! But I’m not in love with him or anything!”

 

“ _ Yet.”  _ Pidge said.

 

Keith sighed, embarrassed. “Yet.” He agreed. Pidge patted his back rather harshly.

 

“That’s the spirit!” Pidge slid a card in his hand. “If you can get the whole deck of cards stuck in the wall I’ll bump the price to 6 dollars per flirt.”

 

“Make it 7 and we got a deal.”

 

“6.50.”

 

“6.75.”

 

“ _ 6.50!” _

 

_ “ _ Ok, fine.” They shake hands and Keith proceeds to try to get the remaining 44 cards lodged in the wall.

 

\--

 

Two hours later, and after Pidge leaves to get Bobby, he only has 20. He’s so concentrated and lost in thought at the same time that the time that passed seemed to fly by. After trying a few more times, he gives up. He flops on his back and stares at the ceiling. He looks up and noticed his empty IV. He took a picture of it and sent it to Pidge.

 

_ [Image Attachment] _

_ Keith: Hurry up with Bobby. I’m out of the life sustaining liquid _

 

_ pidgeon: call anotjer nurse then? we went out for mexican _

 

_ Keith: Can’t. _

 

_ pidgeon: ?? _

 

_ Keith: I have anxiety. _

 

_ pidgeon: lance _

 

_ Keith: Oh, yeah. _

 

Keith opened Lance’s conversation.

 

_ Keith: I'm out of the drip juice, send help please. _

 

_ Lance: i'm busy _

 

_ Keith: Sorry.  _

 

Keith groaned loudly to no one. He was bored. Also what was Lance doing? Was he dead? Dying? He seemed pretty aloof. What a dick. Keith shakes the thought. Obviously whatever he was doing was more important than him. There are people who are actually dying here. Keith can wait.

 

_ Keith: He says he’s busy. _

 

_ pidgeon: ugh send him a complaint then he reads all of those  _

 

Keith follows her advice, but he doesn’t know how to file a complaint that requires not actually talking to people. So he goes on the hospital’s website and refers to the FAQ  and clicks on  _ Questions  _ and then the  _ Please Send All Complaints CEO Lance McClain  _ hyperlink _.  _ CEO, huh? Fancy. Also the website was very easy to navigate. He’ll leave a good Yelp review.

 

_ Keith Kogane, room 144. _

 

_ I ran out of my IV and pidge isn't here. Also there may or may not be at least 15 more cards in the wall sorry Mr. CEO. _

 

There wasn’t exactly 15… more like 12. But Keith thinks a bit of a hyperbole won’t hurt anyone.

 

\--

 

“Where's the HDMI on this thing? Where are the ports? This thing is crazy.” Hunk has spent the last few hours updating his game system after the past months of it not being used, and is finally getting around to hooking it up to Lance’s crazy alien TV. Lance, on the other hand, was irritable. All of Hunk’s endless chatter, although endearing, was slowly making him angry. This stupid lawsuit threat is becoming frustrating, especially with all the complaints that are piling up. 

 

Lance goes to check his email, to see if any of his lawyers have made any progress, but that’s when he’s seen something he hasn’t seen in a while. A complaint from the hospitals website. Typically, patients will just just pass a message onto the nurses and visitors rarely send in complaints. He really likes getting emails from the website because the emails are always titled  _ Complaint for Santa Miguel SE CEO McClain  _ and no one is willing to call him the CEO. Because he isn’t, yet. He’s just next in line, but he does all the work, so he might as well be. He’s like the prince CEO. PrinCEO, if you will. Lance laughs at his own joke to himself and clicks on the email.

 

Hunk sneaks up from behind him and reads it aloud.“ _ Keith Kogane, room 144. “I ran out of my IV and pidge isn't here. Also there may or may not be at least 15 more cards in the wall sorry Mr. CEO.”  _ 15 more? How many were in the wall to begin with?” 

 

“8.” Lance says. How long has he been there for?

 

“Why didn’t he just text you?” Hunk asked.

 

“He did.” Lance remembers. 

 

“And you  _ didn’t  _ go??” Geez, what's with the interrogation?

 

“No?” Did Lance make the wrong choice? He  _ was _ busy with what he was doing. and it seemed a little more dire than Keith's… drip juice. As he said.

 

“ _ But  _ I thought you had a little thing for him? Go and refill his IV like a  _ good _ boyfriend would. This will not only benefit Keith as a patient, but you as head over heels. Also where's the HDMI port on your stupid TV?” Lance pinched the bridge in attempt to relax from his stressful work. He needed a break, anyway, right? It's not like he can do anything right now until his lawyers get back to him. 

 

“Yeah, ok.” Lance stretched, his bones cracking. He collects himself and smoothes his suit, preparing to leave. “It goes out the bottom of the TV.” Lance says, before the elevator doors shut on him and Lance makes his way to Keith.

 

Lance noticed the more casual and playful way Keith has been acting, which seemed fairly uncharacteristic. Not that he’s going to question Keith’s good mood, but he can’t help but think he’s trying to cover something with a playful attitude.

 

Lance entered his room after a curt knock and saw the most horrible thing he’s ever seen. 20 playing cards that had pierced and now stand suspended in the wall. Does this man think plaster is free???

 

“Hi, Lance.” Keith drones, holding the A in Lance. Lance see’s Keith empty IV bag on it’s hook, with the bloody needle dangling on the floor, where Lance presumed it had been ripped out. 

 

“Hi, Keith.” Lance mocked, holding the E in Keith. “Did you tear out your IV?” Lance asks. Keith nods.

 

“Yes. I hate that thing.” Lance sighs and grabs the whole IV and needle and carefully placed it in a red biohazard bag. In hindsight, he probably should have put gloves on. He then leaves to the room across the hall, where he grabbed sterile equipment and and a fresh IV on a little cart and wheels it back in. “Welcome back, Dr. Lance.” Lance snapped on some blue latex-free surgical gloves and hummed in response. He hooked up the IV and unwrapped the needle, motioning for his arm.

 

He cleaned the area with a little alcohol wipe. “Trust me, this is worse for me then it is for you.” Lance always hated needles. He was tempted to look away when he slid it into Keith’s arm but he decided that that’s the complete opposite of a good idea. As soon as it started, it ended, Keith thanked him and Lance makes his way to leave.

 

“No, Lance,” Keith starts, causing Lance to stop in his tracks. “Keep me company? That-that is if you’re not still busy.” Lance wrinkled his nose. How cute.

 

Lance checks his phone briefly. No emails. “Ok, I’ll stay. But let me put this stuff away.” He wheels himself back out to dispose of the items that were used and almost too hastily walked back in.

 

“Welcome back.” Keith says.

 

“Good to be back.” Lance replies. He takes a seat at the chair to the right of Keith and relaxes. 

 

“So what were you busy doing?” Keith asks. Lance groaned into his hands.

 

“Ugh. Just some legal troubles. It’s really stressing me out.” Keith hums and nods in understanding.

 

“You and me, both.” He says. 

 

“You’re having legal troubles?” Keith rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue.

 

“ _ Aigo _ . No, you dingus, I’ve been stressed.” Lance lets out a laugh, that was pretty stupid. “Do you wanna talk about it?” He continues.

 

“It’s nothing out of the ordinary lawsuits we get. But I always work extra hard to make sure they don't get any further then would be considered convenient. Not that anything about this is  _ convenient.”  _ Lance sighs and leans forward, elbows resting on Keith’s bed. “Also, I haven’t told anyone about this but I’ve been having some family drama. My dad is rushing me to marry and he says if I don’t that he’ll make my sister take over instead of me. But my sister wants to be an artist and I don’t wanna fuck up her future because of something I did, y’know.” Lance looks at Keith, and he nods. “I don’t wanna marry Pidge. But someone in my family has to marry a Holt so that we have a second source of income. All of our eggs are in one basket at the moment. Everything’s just all fucked up right now. I assumed a friendship would be enough to secure an income but I guess not. Not that I’m friends with Pidge for the money, or anything, I was friends with Pidge from the time she was in the womb.” The room fell silent.

 

“I’m sorry, Lance.” Keith’s one and only problem seemed to be unimportant now. “I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. That really blows.” Lance laughed bitterly.

 

“Yeah, it kinda does.” Lance straightens his back. “But enough about me. What’s up with you? Why are you stressed?” Keith shook his head.

 

“It's very… mundane. Compared to you.” Lance knit his eyebrows together.

 

“Nonsense! Just because  _ you _ think I’m going through something worse, it doesn’t invalidate your own problems!” Keith seems surprised.

 

“Wow… I… Ok. I already talked to Pidge about this, though. For future reference.” Lance couldn’t help but to feel a little jealous. Keith doesn't know how to make this vague enough that he can vent but also not be too obvious that he was talking about him.

 

“I’m just a little scared. Of life, and stuff.” Ok, good start. “and dating. I can’t be alone forever.” Keith sighed. “I’ve never been in love. I’m a little scared of it.” Perfectly executed.

 

“Aww,” Lance cooed. “That’s adorable. Like a 7th grader asking a 9th grader for love advice. Look, I’ve only been in love once. It didn’t end too well, so I can’t say my experiences are top-notch. But I don’t think any fear  _ about _ being in love should interfere with  _ falling _ in love. That’s stupid. Just let it happen. If you get hurt, you’ll move on.”

 

“Wow, so comforting.” Keith said sarcastically. 

 

“Haha. Sorry. I’m not good at advice. But seriously, don’t be scared. Everything will be fine in the end. But if he breaks your heart, I’ll break his legs.” Keith laughed.

 

“I’m sure you will.” Keith says. For the first time in a while, Keith can feel his burden lift off his shoulders just a little. Lance coming in his life and stirring up his emotions really made those repressed feelings rise to the surface. This is a concern he’s had since Bobby was born. “Thanks, Lance.” 

 

“You too, Keith. Feels good to help.” Keith rolled his eyes. He knows that’s not the reason for his gratitude, but he won't push it. “Is that the reason you’ve been in a good mood lately?”

 

“What, because I’m stressed?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith thinks about it.

 

“Probably. I didn’t notice.” Lance hums.

 

“So where is Pidge, anyway?”

 

“She went to pick up Bobby. They should be back soon, they went out to eat.” Keith props his face in his palm. He misses food.

 

“Ok, that’s cool. Hunk’s getting antsy. He probably shouldn’t have gotten here as early as he did.” 

 

“Ah, well. At least he’s excited. Bobby will have lots of fun, I’m sure.” Keith loved to see Bobby's big smile when she's having fun. 

 

“What about you, are you gonna have fun, too?” Keith makes a dismissive waving motion with his hands.

 

“Nah, I don’t want to play that thing. I’m a grandpa when it comes to technology. I’ll have plenty of fun just...” Keith feels his blood rush to his face. “just being with you.” Lance laughed and wrinkled his nose.

 

“AW!!! That’s adorable. I’ll have fun being with you, too! Maybe we can file more complaints together lol.” 

 

“Don’t laugh at me.” Keith said bitterly. “Also don’t say ‘lol’. You’re like 30.” Lance scoffs.

 

“ _ 30!  _ I take offense.” Keith folded his arms and turned away.  _ That’s what you get for no-homo-ing  _ me, He thinks.

 

“Good.” They sit in silence for a few moments. Pidge very conveniently decided to come in at that very second.

 

“Bonjour, my dudes.” Says Pidge. “I’ve been standing outside the door for like 3 minutes listening to your conversation, hope you don’t mind.” She empties her arms of Bobby’s backpack and a plastic bag of leftovers on the far counters.

 

“Abeoji!!” Bobby shouted as she came rushing in.

 

“Haesal!!” Keith shouted just as loud as Bobby jumped in his arms. “I missed you, Haesal.”

 

“I missed you, too, Abeoji!!” Bobby let go of the hug and turned to Lance. Being as short as she was, she awkwardly crawled up on the bed and stood up, throwing her arms around Lances neck in a tight hug. “I missed hyung, too!!”

 

“Ok, Bobby, go get cleaned up. Hunk is here with his thing and he’s very anxious to start it up.” Keith said. Bobby gave him a toothy smile and wrinkled her nose. She rushed off into the bathroom after grabbing some more comfortable clothes and came out not 3 minutes later.

 

“Ok! I’m ready. Let’s go!” Bobby jumped anxiously while Lance and Pidge helped Keith stand and adjust his IV. While they were leaving, Bobby placed herself between Lance and Keith, holding one of each of their hands when they made their way to Lance’s office. Neither of the boys seemed to notice, but Pidge did and managed to sneak a picture. She’ll make sure to use it on the slideshow at their wedding. 

 

They made it up to his office in no time at all, and when the elevator door opens, Hunk was anxiously awaiting.

 

“Keith! How’ya doin’!” Hunk gave him a big hug, being extra careful. “And this must be Bo Yeong! I’m Hunk. Nice to meet you!” Hunk stuck out his hand and Bobby took it, shaking it firmly.

 

“Hello, Hunk! I heard you got mario kart.”

 

_ “Heck yeah I have Mario Kart!”  _ Hunk says, walking towards the couch. “I set up 4 of the remote thingies. What are they? Joy-sticks?”

 

“Close enough.” Says Pidge.

 

“Close enough is good enough! So who wants to play? Shiro and Allura texted me and said they were gonna come by later and join us. To ‘check on us’ as they said.”

 

“Why did Allura text you and not me?” Lance asked, insulted.

 

“Maybe that's because you never answer your stupid phone. Ever thought of that?” Lance nods. Touché. 

 

“You’re probably right. Anyway I don’t think I can play. You guys go ahead.” Lance says. Pidge groaned and rolled her eyes.

 

“You’re going to sit down and you’re going to play Mario and you're going to like it.” Pidge said.

 

“But what about you?”

 

“I’ll watch. Duh.” Lance sighed and sat down on the couch. A little too close to where Keith was sitting, their thighs were touching.

 

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Lance grumbled. When Keith knew Pidge was watching, Keith leaned close to him and set his chin on Lance’s shoulder. Apparently she considered that a flirt and shot him the ok sign, and then the games had begun, not just for Mario Kart but for Keith’s flirting. He didn’t have to say anything for both Pidge and Keith acknowledge that the end goal for tonight was to get Keith that date he wouldn’t not say no to.

 

While the game had begun, Keith littered Lance’s side with light touches, every time it caused him to mess up his game and his face was a permanent shade of red. He never won a single game in the first 3 matches. Bobby stood up, after her first win. 

“Yes!” she shouted. “How does it feel to be a  _ loser!”  _ She yelled at Hunk playfully. Hunk huffed.

 

“ _ A loser!  _ I’m sorry,  _ who  _ here won the last 2 games? Oh, that’s right. Me.” Hunk and Bobby had been talking throughout the entire session, and they’re getting along really really well. Keith is happy that she’s happy.

 

“You’re  _ on!  _ One-on-one! Who ever wins gets to play Rosalina next game. Since you took her from me last time.”

 

“You’re on, kid.” Hunk said.

 

“Ok! Everyone had to leave. Except Pidge, she can stay to witness my awesome victory. So Abeoji and Hyung have to  _ leave!”  _ Keith could somehow tell she did that on purpose. 

 

“Ok, ok. We’re going.” Keith stood up and left with Lance by his side, and they waited outside in the hallway. The hallway was quiet and awkward, and neither of them were talking. Keith hopes it can remain silent.

 

“Are we going to talk about it now, or later?” Lance said. Keith spoke too soon. He sighed.

 

“Don’t be mad at me,” Keith started. “But later.” Lance nodded but sighed, disappointed. “I’ll get all sappy. Let’s get sappy later.” Lance looked at him surprised, and it was then Keith’s turn to blush. Lance let his face fall into an endearing smile and got really close to his side, putting his chin on Keith’s shoulder like Keith did to him. He jumped at the contact.

 

“Is that so?” He said, in a low tone. “What, got something to tell me?” Keith’s heart was beating a mile a minute.

 

“I’ve known you for a whooping 3 days. Don’t you expect anything.” Keith said, the smile present in his voice. Lance pressed closer to him and slowly ran his fingers down his arm.

 

“Oh, I would never. But if it’s a flirting game we’re playing, then 2 can play it.” Shit, has he been caught? Just go with it, he thinks.

 

“Yeah?” He says, his voice shaky. He turns around to look him in the eyes. “You promise?” Keith said, with a little more confidence, but his tomato red face and his quickening heartbeat told a different story. He stuck his thumbs into the loop of Lance’s pants and tugged them closer to him. “I heard I'm a tough opponent.” 

 

“Oh, I’m sure.” Lance snakes his hands around his waist. “What are we playing for?”

 

“P-playing for? Like… A prize?” Lance nods and hums, a nonverbal ‘yes’ that’s making Keith go crazy. “What prize, then?”

 

“How about…” Lance starts, “The loser owns the winner a kiss.” Keith can’t fully tell if he’s serious or not, but even if it was a joke, every joke has some element to truth to it. Keith will willingly cling on to that bit of hope.

 

“Seem’s hardly like a punishment.” Keith says, trying to add more to this prize. Keith wraps his arms around Lance’s neck, and pulls his head in centimeters away from his; IV making this a lot less romantic. “You could kiss me now. What would the difference be if it's after you lose?”

 

“After  _ I  _ lose? That’s rich. But that’s beside the point,” Lance starts, “How about, the loser owes the winner  _ 10 _ kisses, that the winner can use at  _ any _ time he likes?” 

 

“That’s more like it.” Keith says. There’s a silence between them where Keith was wondering about what  _ Lance _ likes. He seems to be rather unfazed by Keith’s confident approach, not at all like how Keith’s knees are currently jelly. He wonders of he prefers the sweet kind?? Or maybe the shy kind of flirting?? Only one way to find out. He hopes his 1 year of Drama in high school for his fine art credit pays off now. 

 

Keith unwraps his arms from his neck and loosely lets his hands sit at Lance’s side, glancing down at the floor beneath them and rubbing small circles in his waist. Lance is immediately concerned with Keith’s change in demeanor.

 

“Hey? You alright?” Lance says, worry clear in his voice. All signs of their game vanished in an instant.

 

Keith shrugs. “It just…” Keith paused to think of a way to finish that sentence. C’mon, c’mon. Improv. “You should’ve… kissed me… When I asked you to.” Keith glanced up at him, wide eyes and knitted eyebrows. Lance suddenly pulled away, covering his beet-red face in his hands.

 

“AH!!! I’ve underestimated you. A worthy opponent. You win this round.” His words were muffled.

 

“This round?” Keith says. He didn’t win?

 

“Best of 3!!” Keith sighed. What a sore loser.

 

“Fine. Best of 3.” From behind them, they both hear very loud vomiting noises. Gee, wonder who it could be from.

 

_ “GROSS!”  _ More vomiting noises. “I’m going to pretend I never saw that.” Neither of the boys knew how long she was there for. “You can come back in now.” She left the door open and you could distinctly hear Hunk saying ‘welco- hey what happened?’ and Pidge’s ‘I don’t wanna talk about it’ in response. Both Lance and Keith were embarrassed beyond belief, but the embarrassment was quick fleeing.

 

“Are you ready for round 2?” Lance says. “Stealth level. I warn you, I’ve been told i'm a pretty good sniper.” Keith laughs.

 

“Oh yeah. I’m sure. Snipe me.” Keith said it sarcastically and walked back inside, not looking back at Lance.

 

Keith sat down on the couch and Lance quickly followed. “So, who won?” Keith asked. Hunk slouched forward and Bobby smiled wide.

 

“It’s a tie!” Bobby said. “We both win!”

 

“So no tie-breaker?” Keith asked. Bobby gasped.

 

“No way!!!! Then Hunk would lose!!! And I want both of us to be winners!” Hunk doesn’t know if he should be offended or not. But, she’s 8, so he let’s it pass.

 

“Oh. Then who’s playing now?” Lance asked.

 

“Me and Pidge!” Hunk said.

 

“ _ Pidge  _ and  _ I!”  _ Pidge corrected. “I already have the levels picked out, there's no way you’re gonna win. But now it’s snack time. Snack time then game time.” Everyone silently agrees and walked towards the assortment of goodies that Hunk had so graciously set up beforehand. Lance and Keith, of course, lagged behind.

 

Lance took this chance to slide a cold hand under Keith’s sweatshirt, and Keith shivered at the touch. Lance whispered sweet words in Keith’s ear. Anything he could think of really, things like,  _ you’re so beautiful, the most amazing man in the world, I can’t believe you're actually in my life  _ and anything to make Keith’s flush cover his entire face. He moved his cold hand to the small of his back and Keith's knees  _ actually  _ buckled, and he stumbled forward, but didn’t actually fall.

 

“Was that because of me?” Lance asked. Keith clicked his tongue and he looked rather angry.

 

“No. Of course not.” Lance wrinkled his nose when he realized he was lying. “Wipe that look off your face.” Keith gave him a warning tone. Lance placed his palm on his cheek and watched as Keith leaned into his touch, warily glancing to the crowd, but was relieved when they were too busy eating to notice. 

 

The way Keith leaned into his touch with his red face greatly conflicted with his angry expression.  _ He’s just like a cat,  _ Lance thinks. “Wipe what look off my face?”

 

“Don’t tease me.” Keith mumbled.

 

“But I  _ do  _ believe that was the point of this, isn’t it? Or do you admit defeat?” 

 

“You’ll never break mee _ eee-aah shit.”  _ Lance placed a little kiss under Keith’s jaw, and he can feel the way he’s trembling under his touch.

 

“Really? You’re shaking like a leaf.” This time, Keith pushed him away. He was breathing very heavily and had trouble calming his rapid heart.

 

“Fine. You win this round. Dick.” Lance laughed and cracked his knuckles.

 

“ _ Man,  _ this is fun. I told you I was the stealth master.” 

 

Keith knows how gross they’re being. Keith has also accepted that there’s absolutely no way their platonic relationship could ever return to a purely platonic place any time soon, if ever. The severity of this situation is now weighing on him. This is it, huh? Their relationship will  _ never  _ be the same. Is that something that Keith really wants? Is that something he’s ready for? Keith freezes. He freezes and he sits back down. He has a dead stare as he searched his mind for answers to the questions he has. He’s dazed and he doesn’t know how to react. He doesn’t even notice when Shiro and presumably Allura decide to join them. How long has be been staring for?

 

“Hey, Keith, you ok buddy?” Shiro snaps him out of his trance. He only nods. “You need a nap or something? Are you tired? Are you ok? Maybe you’re iron levels are low.”

 

“I’m alright, Shiro.” Keith says, but he can tell by the look in Shiro’s eye that he doesn't believe it for a second. “I’m just thinkin’ about stuff, is all. Probably stupid things.” Shiro nods like he’s got him all figured out. Part of Keith wants to run out as fast as he can and go… somewhere else. His room, the parking lot, the roof so he can promptly jump off it, anything at all, since he’s feeling exceptionally anxious. He used to have anxiety attacks a lot when he was younger, but he thinks he’s outgrown them. Him, and him alone, that is.

 

Shiro was always there in his youth to calm him down when he’s having especially bad attacks. He’s had minor attacks that involve slight tremors and hyperventilation since he’s left the Shirogane household, but it's nothing that couldn’t pass in a minute or two. He thinks he feels one of those catching up to him right about now. He counts to 3 in his head, over and over, and spells the Japanese word for ‘person,’ in his palm like Shiro had taught him all those years ago.

 

“Hey, are you sure you’re ok, Keith?” Shiro says in concern. Keith doesn’t move. “Do you need to talk?” Keith shakes his head.

 

“Give… give me a second.” Deep breaths, but don’t let anyone notice. Slow your heart beat, but don’t let anyone notice. He doesn’t want to ruin anyone’s game day because he’s having some pitiful internal drama with his non-existent love life. The rest of the crowd are yelling and cheering lap after lap in that game, and the last thing Keith wants is for one of those smiles to be ripped off because of him. He forces a smile. “I’ll be alright. I mean no disrespect, but it isn’t really something that I can talk about with you.” Shiro only nods. He couldn’t help but notice a very awkward Allura, trying her best not to peep on the conversation. Under any other circumstance, Keith would have introduced himself. But he decided to save that for next time. For now, he’s going to leave introductions for their next meeting.

 

\--

 

The rest of the afternoon went very smoothly. Bobby had such a blast and talked non-stop to Keith about how much she loved playing with everyone and that she hopes they can do it again soon. It’s about 6 o’clock when everyone parts, and Keith wonders if Lance is going to stop by. They said brief goodbyes, but hardly made eye contact, their game forgotten. He know what he needs to say, and he know that he needs to say it soon, for the sake of his own sanity. And he needs to be alone with him when he does. He decides he’ll wait a while longer. Until the sun goes down completely over the horizon and the stars come out.

 

\--

 

The time comes, and he knows it’s inevitable.  _ Now or never. _

 

_ 8:14 Keith: Are you still here? _

 

_ 8:15 Lance: depends _

 

_ 8:15 Keith: Depends on what? _

 

_ 8:18: Lance: why ur asking _

 

_ 8:18 Keith: I need to talk to you. _

 

_ 8:18 Lance: abt what? _

 

_ 8:19 Keith: The sappy talk I promised you. _

 

_ 8:19 Lance: abt what???? _

 

_ 8:20 Keith: That’s the point of the conversation. To tell you. _

 

Lance didn’t respond after that. It was left on read.

 

_ 8:31 Keith: Fuck you. I’m coming up there and we’re talking and you’re going to sit down a listen.” _

 

Fuck it, Keith though. He tore out his IV and left it dangling on the floor, like last time.

 

“Abeoji? Where are you going?” Keith glanced to Bobby.

 

“I need to talk to Lance.”

 

“Oh.” Bobby said. “Did he hurt you again?” She asked, cautiously. Keith shakes his head.

 

“Ok, Haesal. Here’s what’s up.” Keith approaches her and kneels to her eye level. “Abeoji kinda likes Lance. I guess you could say Abeoji kinda had a crush on him. And Abeoji has been having a bit of trouble keeping his feelings all to himself. So Abeoji is going to tell Lance about it. He might hurt Abeoji, but that’s the ok kind of hurt. Since Abeoji can’t make Lance like him back.” Bobby nods, but doesn’t really understand.

 

“So Abeoji wants to go on a date with Lance?” Keith nods.

 

“Yeah. I do.”

“Does he make you happy?” Bobby asked. This gets Keith to thinking.

 

“I can’t say for sure that he does. But he makes me laugh and he gives me little butterflies. I think it can grow into something more if I give it a chance to. If he gives it a chance to.”

 

“As long as you think he can make you happy, Abeoji.” Bobby crawls up into bed, covering herself up. “If Abeoji is happy, then I’m happy.”

 

“Are you going to sleep?” Bobby nods. “Alright, Haesal. Sweet dreams. I’ll be back in a bit, call Pidge if you need anything.” Bobby mumbles in response. Keith turns out his light on the way out and makes his way to the elevator that he knows goes directly into Lance’s office. He types in the code that Pidge gave him and in a few short seconds he’s there. Lance was sitting at his chair, his head in his hands.

 

Keith knocks on the side of the wall to grab Lance’s attention. “Hey,” he says. 

 

“Hey.” Lance offers as a response.

 

Keith was about to sit in the two chairs in front of Lance’s desk, but he was afraid of it feeling too much of a interrogation. “Do you mind… Could you maybe… stand up? When we’re talking?” Lance glances nervously at him. Why should he be nervous? He slowly rises and makes his way in front of Keith.

 

“So…” Lance begins, scratching his head.

 

“Right… I guess I’ll start.” He takes a deep breath. “I, umh. I- uh… I like you?” Keith looks Lance in the eyes, but Lance won’t meet his gaze. “Please, look at me.” He asked. Lance looked him in the eyes, without protest. “I know what you must be thinking, oh this guy’s known me for all of 72 hours, how could he possibly come to such a conclusion? And the answer to that is you’re really such a sweet guy, even if you might not realize it. You took me in as your family after never even meeting me, you took care of my daughter for me when I was unconscious and you really do make me feel things that I haven’t really felt before. Like… I don’t know… You give me butterflies and you make my knees weak. I love hearing you laugh and I love hearing you, talk too.” No emotion was present on Lance’s face. It was kind of unnerving. “Look, I’m not asking for a serious relationship or anything right now. I just want to know how you feel. So maybe we could make something work between us, someday? That’s all I really want. A chance, or a future chance, if you will.” Lance looked down at his feet, lost in thought. Keith gave him exactly two minutes before he intervened. “Can you say something, please? That was really hard for me to say, as it is.”

 

“I… Keith… Jesus, how do I say this…” he scratched the back of his head. “I… Like you, too? And I’d… really like if something could happen with our relationship. I really like your company and just being around you makes me relax and I definitely don’t want anything weird to happen with us, either. I know we haven’t known each other for very long but I feel like we have some sort of connection, as cliche and gross as that sounds.” keith couldn’t help but to give a curt chuckle in response. “You definitely got that chance you wanted. Hell, that what I wanted too. I promise you, as soon as you can eat solid things I’m taking you out.” Keith couldn’t hold back the smile on his face, and neither could Lance. “But I don’t want to label our relationship just yet? I feel like it’s too soon for that.” Keith nods. He agrees.

 

“But I don’t want to see you with anyone else.” Keith said before he could stop himself. 

 

“I figured as much. How about this. We’re both off limits from dating anyone until we got us sorted out. To avoid tension.” Seems fair enough.

 

“Yeah… yeah, that’s sounds good.” Lance and Keith fall into yet another silence. “Hey, can I have a selfish request?”

“Sure. Anything.” Lance responds.

 

“Kiss me?” Keith doesn’t know how this will play out, but he figures it’s worth a try. Before he knows it, a pair of soft lips are pressed to his own. He’s quick to kiss back and he cups a cheek in his hand, and Lance steadies the both of them by wrapping an arm around Keith’s waist. It wasn’t anything like the movies and the romance novels make it out to be, really. No fireworks or anything, but it made Keith’s heart flutter a million times a minute and he felt as light as air. The chaste kiss lasted only a few moments after it started. When they parted, both Keith and Lance didn’t bother to cover their red faces. Then, Keith’s knees buckled forward,  _ great job, loser,  _ Keith chided himself. Lance let out an endearing laugh.

 

“Does that mean I won?”

 

“Won? Won what?”

 

“Our little game.” Oh. Keith rolled his eyes. “Best of three.” He reminded.

 

“Best of three.” Keith agreed.

 

“Does that start now?” 

 

“Not sure. Does it?” Lance took that as an invitation and kissed Keith again, a little harder and a little more passionately than before, but it still held the softness of the first one. They broke away after a little longer than previously.

 

“9 more left, ya’know.”

 

“Yeah. I know.” 

 

After that they reluctantly said their goodbyes. Keith then left and fell promptly to sleep when he arrived at his room, to await another day.


	4. Me u and the audience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS SPOILER TERRITORY!!! I'm having trouble writing so here are my thoughts on how I think I should progress the story. Only one big plot spoiler but I still dont know how I'm going to do it so nothing is set in stone. I'm so hot and cold when it comes to my writing. Tell me your thoughts if you decided to read this addition!

Uh hey guys not was you were expecting lo siento haha anyway I've written about 2k words of chapter 4 and I'm kinda stuck in a rut here so tell me what you guys think let's make this a group effort

BE WARNED potential spoilers ahead. Maybe not tho I change this story every 4 seconds. 

I'm trying to make this the slowest burn possible, so I'll probably finish off the dare (wasn't it that Keith has to kiss Lance 10 times??? I don't remember I have to re read it haha) and then I'm going to make them friends again until problems with father dear come up  
Every day is one chapter in the story. It's been 3 days. Even though this story is so long, I feel like it's going to fast and I dont know how I feel about it. That's why I want to make them friends again for a little bit while they get to know eachother.

Keith is going to be in the hospital for 6+ weeks. I'm not going to write 36 9k worded chapters before I can even start their official relationship. Because they will not get serious until he's out keep that in mind, so I don't know where to put in time skips, because every day is important. One theme I was going for when I started writing is “I love you more and more every day.” but I'm a slow writer, It'll take years before I finish. I wanted to make this fanfic like LESS than 40 chapters and at least 200,000 words.

Smut. Ooooooh, that bit. I do intend on writing some. But I haven't written any in literally about 4 years. I don’t know who tops and shit and I don't want to push readers away because of something like that.

The reason I haven't been writing any voltron fanfics is because I can't keep up with many characters at a time. I feel like I'm not sure how to properly balance Hunk and Allura in the story, until Keith leaves the hospital. Perhaps I could speed up Keith’s recovery since he doesn't have a mental illness? 

THESE WILL BE SPOILERS not big ones; not story points but events I've alluded and insinuated them several times but if you're dense then uhhHHHh s o r r y?

I don’t know whether or not I should make Keith live with Shiro, or on his own. Or maybe both, but when he first leaves he will not live with Lance. Too much of a culture shock, I guess. Keith is already kinda sensitive 

SPEAKING OF WHICH I think I think I've made Keith too OOC and and I might return Lance to his untrusting ways after some incident. But I think I'll make them both get angry at each other so I can get that rivalry arc in somewhere.

Maybe I'll make what's happening to them right now like a honeymoon phase and then things get worse before they get better? Something like, maybe one or both of then get too possessive or paranoid or untrusting. I want to put in “of you love them, let them go and if they come back it was meant to be" thing. I don't want it make it toxic or anything.

It might end up being that Keith becomes convinced that Lance is only trying to get close to him so he doesn't have to marry Pidge by one of Lance's ex girlfriends, or one of the girls his dad provides as a substitute for Pidge if he really insists it can’t be her. There's a MAJOR plot twist i'm planning to include in the marriage arc so none of this really matters at the end of this arc but for Keith and Lance's relationship it's crucial.

This is why I want to hurry up with this stupid hospital shit. I'm thinking that I should make their misunderstanding, whatever it may be, in about 4 weeks time in-story time? One month. I want this to happen soon so I can release Hospice Care Keith of the emotional wreck he is right now. I want him to get a little bit bitter and untrusting and angrier like canon Keith, so he isn't some cute, crying, fragile person he is right now and I hate what I've done with him. Lance was meant to be OOC, I'm going to make him similar to how he was in the beginning. Cunning, conceited, narcissistic. Think more Lotor. I'm going to attribute this to his upbringing and he will change back into the strong, insecure Cuban kid you see canon in Voltron but they all have some growing to do.

I made Pidge the comic relief character. I have nO idea how to evolve her. I'll put her in a tense situation or something so I can show off her intelligence and leadership skills but I have no idea when or where so uhhhhhh rip

I have to evolve Bobby, too. She can't stay a kid forever, which is why I'm so anxious to time skip, so I can make her a teenager and she can finally be vital to the plot AS A CHARACTER and not as something FOR KEITHS character. Bobby is just a plot device right now but I want to make her more 

I based Bobby off of my own kid, well she's not my kid but I think of her is one, or maybe like my sister. She just turned 9 irl, so I might make Bobby’s birthday the first time skip.

Keith is my favourite character in Voltron because I can relate to him the most. I based Keith off of me, and how I would think, not so much on how he acts or talks. I based Pidge and Lance’s way of speaking and acting off of me too, I've totally said every bit of dialogue I've written for both (post-asshole lance ofc)

My personality is a bit dickish. I mean the best but the only kind of support I can offer is tough love, and it sometimes comes off as being rude. I have a short patience when it comes to stupidity, but a long patience when it comes to actually waiting. I've learned a lot in my life and I've been told I carry myself in such a way that people typically think I'm a lot older than I actually am. 

This is how I want to portray Keith, all I am and more. He was always meant to be the main character. 

I want him to be selfless, and independent, which is why he feels so discontent in the hospital. He hates not being able to do anything, or care for his daughter. Which is why I hate putting him through all this emotional bullshit. But I want him to jump to conclusions, get angry easily, get suspicious.

Ok bye I'm gonna go write chapter 4 now. It’s just gonna be Keith and lance makin out and being weird so enjoy, might foreshadow they're separation or something who knows also theres no plot right now, I'll probably make Keith progressively more anxious in the next 2 chapters so I can make him blow up so I can write something angsty idk man enjoy more honeymoon phase klance


End file.
